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Sustaining Gains in Poverty Reduction and Human Development in the Middle East and North Africa
TABLE 5.5
Summary Statistics of Microfinance Indicators, 2003
Country
Active Borrowers (number)
Arab Republic of Egypt Jordan Lebanon Morocco Syria Tunisia West Bank/Gaza Republic of Yemen Total
256,159 24,348 13,429 297,148 32,170 63,736 13,394 9,872 710,256
Estimated Market Penetrationa 16 26 18 45 8 41 10 2 19
Female Clients (%) 46 77 35 75 — 46 41 83 60
Rural Clients (%) 13 24 22 23 — 57 31 6 22
Fully Sustainable MFIs (number) 7 3 1 5 0 1 0 0 17
All MFIs and other Credit Programs in 2003 Sample (number) 20 5 6 7 6 2 7 15 68
Source: Adapted from Brandsma and Burjorjee 2004, p. 17, table 3.1. Note: — Not available; MFI microfinance institution. a. Market penetration equals the ratio of active borrowers to potential borrowers. The number of potential borrowers is calculated as 40 percent of all households spending less than 1.2 times the national poverty line in each country.
been to design lending terms and build institutional capability to provide services on a sustainable basis (Gross and de Silva 2002).
Notes 1. This report does not cover public pensions or public housing, although these may be considered part of the region’s social protection arrangements. Pension systems in the Middle East and North Africa are the subject of a recent World Bank report (Robalino 2005). 2. This section draws on World Bank (1999a). 3. The Republic of Yemen example may be affected by pro-urban sampling biases in the 1992 survey. See World Bank (2002f). 4. The status of reforms in different countries and options for subsidy reform based on international experience are more fully analyzed in World Bank (1999a). 5. Needless to say, the pace and content of subsidy reforms also have been affected by political considerations. Initial attempts to modify food subsidies were met by public unrest in Egypt (1977), Jordan (1989), Morocco (1981), and Tunisia (1983). This underlines the sensitivity of the reforms and the need to mount a preemptive communications effort. 6. Subbarao (2003) also includes the mode of wage payment as a design feature because the form of payment, whether in cash or kind, could influence the participation of certain groups over others. This was the case in Lesotho and Zambia, for instance, where wage payment in the form of food elicited the participation of more women than men. 7. This section draws on Brandsma and Burjorjee (2004).