A Comprehensive Review of Microfinance Impacts, Sustainability and Outreach
M. Wakilur Rahman *
Department of Rural Sociology, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Bangladesh.
Jianchao Luo
College of Economics and Management, Institute of Rural Finance, Northwest A&F University, 3, Taicheng Road, Yangling, Shaanxi, China.
A. S. M. Golam Hafeez
Department of Agricultural Finance, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Bangladesh.
Tongquan Sun
Rural Development Institute, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), Beijing, China.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
This study reviews peer reviewed journal articles on microfinance impacts, sustainability, and outreach over the period 1997 to 2011. The review suggests mixed results on the impacts of microfinance worldwide, and fails to discover a concrete relationship between outreach and sustainability. However, the review confirms microfinance institutions extend financial and non-financial services to the bottom of the pyramid ignored by traditional financial institutions and considered un-bankable. The paper contributes to extant microfinance literature and guides inexperienced microfinance practitioners toward further academic research and publishing their work in relevant journals.
Keywords: Microfinance, poverty alleviation, impact, sustainability, outreach.