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I am glad to learn that "MRRU" is going to publish a report on the activities of NGO-MFIs. This publication is based on the self-reporting systems of the Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) themselves and it provides valuable information on the sector. I believe that this report prepared by MRRU would provide useful insights for policy makers and other stakeholders. MRRU is in continuous touch with MFIs directly and also with other related authorities for further improvement of the quality of data and information. I hope that next publications of MRRU would be more analytical and informative if the Unit gets proper feedback and suggestions from the stakeholders.
I thank the members of the team of MRRU for their effort in publishing this report. I also thank the related departments of Bangladesh Bank for their cooperation in software development, computer assistance and printing. I believe that all concerned agencies and institutions will welcome this effort of MRRU and extend cooperation for sustainable development of the microfinance sector in Bangladesh. |
Dr. Salehuddin Ahmed
Governor
Bangladesh Bank |
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The government of Bangladesh has established
"Microfinance Research and Reference Unit (MRRU)" in
Bangladesh Bank to help formulate uniform policy guidelines for
microfinance sector in the country. A National Steering Committee
was also formed to oversee the unit and to formulate a regulatory
framework for this sector. The Unit has published an operational
guideline for monitoring management and financial system of
microfinance institutions. It contains reporting formats,
financial guideline, guideline for measuring performance and terms
of references for internal and external audit. Based on this
reporting format, MRRU requested NGO-MFls to submit quarterly
information from January 2004 to the Unit. Recommending a legal
framework for the microfinance institutions is one of the main
terms of references of the Steering Committee. In this connection,
the Committee has prepared and submitted a draft law to the
government for consideration. It is expected that after the
promulgation of the law microfinance sector in Bangladesh will be
under a formal regulatory framework in near future.
This is the first consolidated and analytical publication of MRRU
on the basis of information provided by NGO-MFls according to the
prescribed format. Information given in this report could not be
verified at field level by the MRRU due to lack of resources.
However, the key findings of this report have similarities with
previous findings published in different literature by different
authorities. The Unit expects that it would be able to verify some
sample data at field level in near future, which will help the
Unit to provide more reliable and quality information in future.
Till May 31,2005 MRRU received information from more than 600 NGO-MFls
for different quarters started from January-March 2004; however,
it could not analyze all of them due to time and resource
constraints. This report contains year-end information of 352 MFls,
which includes all the big players of this market. Providing
information on the size of the industry, types of players, their
coverage and outreach, and their performance are the main
objectives of this publication. From this publication individual
MFls would get information on their position in the overall market
and also get information on their relative performance. This
report would help MFls to improve their performance, to understand
their abilities and limitations. It would also provide valuable
insights to the policy makers to formulate policy for this sector.
For example, what would be the minimum size of the credit to
invest in an income-generating project, what would be upper limit
of credit and savings collected by an individual MFI, what would
be the appropriate ratio of members to borrowers etc., all these
questions could be usefully addressed on the basis of the
information provided in this report. However, this report could
not provide valuable analysis on the financial performance of this
sector due to lack of necessary data and information. The Unit
expects that it would be able to overcome this shortcoming in its
next publication. |
Khandakar Mazharul Haque
Executive Director
Bangladesh Bank
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Published
by Microfinance Research and Reference Unit (MRRU)
1st Annex Building, 1st Floor, Bangladesh Bank
Head Office, Dhaka
Phone: 880-2-7125740
Fax: 880-2-9564117, E-mail: mrrubb@bangla.net
Website: www.bangladesh-bank.org
www.bangladeshbank.org.bd
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