Link: Economist, bank win Nobel Peace Prize - Yahoo! News.\
Grameen, which means rural in the Bengali language, was the first lender to hand out microcredit, giving small loans to poor Bangladeshis who did not qualify for loans from conventional banks. No collateral is needed for Grameen loans, which average about $200.
The bank says it has loaned $5.72 billion to 6.6 million Bangladeshi, 97 percent of whom were women, and today provides services in more than 70,000 villages.
The success has allowed Grameen to expand its credit to include housing loans, financing for irrigation and fisheries as well as traditional savings accounts.
But Grameen is not without critics, many of whom focus on the bank's high interest rates. Its business loans carry a rate of 20 percent, significantly higher than the 10-15 percent charged by commercial banks.
Microfinance to the resuce!!!!!!!!!!But...with a higher interest rates than conventional banks. The poor of Banglades has been using Grameen bank to lift them up from poverty which is great of course, by offering micro amount of loan for them to start their small business. Well, if we did not analyze this effort carefully, then surely we said "an interesting set of curbing poverty".
I see it differently. This is a new trap for the poor. People always love to play around with numbers. We can be deceived so easily when it comes to numbers. What I meant was that, this microcredit can be a real death trap to the poor because if you realised how the 20% interest rate charged could gobble their life up like there is no tomorrow!
Maybe for us, small amount of credit with an interest rate of 99% is considered 'ok' due we can pay it on time ( i mean normal,particular working class in devoloping countries) but to the Bangladeshi's poor, where uncertainties has become their best friends for a long time, this micro credit can wipe out their chances in building a better life in a long run plus they are not educated people who knows how to keep balance the account when running business.
I think everyone should be careful about this. Don't simply look upon the simplicity of the offering without considering the ultimate justice for the poor's rights.
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