Global Microfinancing Institutes: High Interest Rate Or Low Loan-loss Rates?

Abstract

The microfinancing sector has experienced a rise in both loan interest rates and borrower loan loss rates recently. By employing a sample of microfinance institutions (MFIs) from the MixMarket database during 2004-2012 around the world, we find that the lag of borrower loan loss is positively related to loan interest rates while the lag of loan interest rates is also positively related to borrower loan loss. The impact of loan loss rate on loan interest rates, however, seems to be more substantial than the influence of loan interest rates on the loan loss rate. Furthermore, we find that the higher interest rates charged by MFIs are followed by higher operating performance of MFIs, indicating the possibility that MFIs are charging relatively high interest rates mainly for their own profitability rather than helping low income people.