Abstract:
This paper seeks to assess the scope and economic impact of the microlending phenomenon and its long term economic viability. While millions of individuals have benefited from microloans, it does not appear that the numbers of individuals served are sufficient to register measureable economic improvements on the scale of an improved national Gross Domestic Product (GDP) or increased income per capita measurements. For this reason, the importance of microfinance to economic growth in developing nations hinges both on its sustainability and the ability of microfinance to grow and serve a significantly larger percentage of the populations in those economies.
