The COVID-19 pandemic threatens lives and livelihoods, and, with that, has created immediate challenges for institutions that serve affected communities. We focus on implications for local microfinance institutions in Pakistan, a country with a mature microfinance sector, serving a large number...

We study a unique microcredit model with zero interest rate and voluntary contributions, used by Akhuwat, a microfinance organization operating in Pakistan since 2001. Borrowers are encouraged to give any amount they wish to the organization every month, in addition to the instalment for the...

Microcredit loans were traditionally extended to groups of people. However, there is no clear evidence that joint liability does lead to better borrower performance and recent years have seen a shift towards individual liability lending. Utilizing the exogenous shift from individual to joint...

The study explores the spatial patterns of poverty in Pakistan through two dimensions, asset accumulation and basic needs. For this purpose Pakistan Standard of Living Measurement 08-09 is employed to construct an Asset Index and a Basic Needs index, at a district level, through the use of...

The remittances sent home by overseas Pakistani workers have more than quadrupled in the last eight years to more than $13.186 billion by June 2012, with expatriates in Saudi Arabia sending more remittances to Pakistan than from anywhere else in the world. This study uses a sample of 542 Saudi...

The study proposes to evaluate the impact of the current financial crisis on remittances received by three South Asian countries, namely Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. The objective is twofold: to forecast the impact of change in remittances on the growth of these countries (macro level...