ABSTRACT
This chapter outlines the particularities and impacts associated with the growth of Brazil's microcredit sector. Brazil has long had an extensive informal sector and competition for demand in this arena has always been high. In practice, this means explaining the fact that Brazil's microcredit sector differs from almost all other microcredit programs around the world in that it is largely dependent on public funding and strategic direction. Therefore, the data shows that microcredit is used as an instrument to aid the financial inclusion program. The key driver, to be more specific, was the National Program on Orientated and Productive Microcredit established by the Federal Government. The difficulties concerning impact analysis of microcredit programs have long been discussed in the specialized literature, not only with regard to the Brazilian case, but also with regard to the experiences in other developing countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America.
