What factors affect a microfinance institution's outreach and profitability? This document studies the state of microfinance, drawing from a database of 2600 microfinance institutions (MFIs), and focuses on outreach, profitability and poverty.The paper presents the following sources of its data:...

This paper explores whether microcredit borrowers are charged unreasonably high interest rates. It draws on data from Microfinance Information Exchange and the MicroBanking Bulletin. The paper does not find evidence suggesting any widespread pattern of borrower exploitation by MFIs charging high...

Over the past two decades, institutions that make microloans to low-income borrowers in developing and transition economies have focused increasingly on making their lending operations financially sustainable by charging interest rates that are high enough to cover all their costs. They argue...