• Haiti has not had a good year. Many people are struggling to get by and need help to survive. For this reason, microloans have become very popular among small-scale entrepreneurs looking to get by, but even they are having trouble in the wake of absolute destruction of much of the country:

• 30% the lowest interest rate one will likely find on a microloan from Haiti, which is very reliant on them in the wake of the earthquake
• 53% the percentage of one lender’s microloans in Haiti that were late after the qake – a staggeringly high number that makes it hard for lenders
• 18% of microloans have defaulted or risk doing so in Haiti this year; in most third-world countries, it’s more like 2-3 percent source

• » However, they’re still fighting: These firms seen to understand how important their services are to Hatians, so they’ve used various methods to raise funds to offer the high-risk loans. While they’re a ways off from, say, India’s broad microlending program, they are expanding their work so that they can offer a wider variety of services to the people that need it most.

Posted by Ernie Smith • Permalink