ABSTRACT
Microfinance is the provision of financial services to the poor, on a scale appropriate to their needs. The term includes facilities for small savings, ‘microinsurance’, and increasingly, given the growing mobility of the working poor, money transfer (remittances). The microfinancial service that has always attracted most attention, however, is the provision of small loans — micro-credit — whether for purposes of investment (in agriculture, small enterprises or education), or to cover unforeseen short-term expenses.
