Author(s):
Larry Reed
Jan Maes

"This has been a challenging year for microfinance. We have faced difficulties before: natural disasters wiping out the businesses of clients in Bangladesh and the Philippines, markets overheating in Morocco and Bosnia, and governments cracking down on microfinance institutions (MFIs) in Nicaragua or on microfinance clients in Zimbabwe. But, over the last year, we have been shaken as we watched rapid growth in a major market, India, turn into a major collapse in one portion of that market, Andhra Pradesh, which has brought real harm to clients we sought to help." - Executive Summary