Association bolsters microfinance with training
Association bolsters microfinance with training
The Microfinance Association continues to help both non-deposit and deposit managers improve their skills to ensure the raising of standards in microfinance management.
On Monday, the Microfinance Association started the training of 29 microfinance managers that will take place from May 8 to June 16 under the Microfinance Management Certificate course, which is approved by the Bank of the Lao PDR.
The course aims not only to strengthen the capacity of the target group - the leaders and managers of licensed microfinance institutes - but also seeks to increase the pool of trained and competent microfinance sector professionals while strengthening not only the micro-level but also the meso-level of the sector.
The base of qualified microfinance trainers will be broadened through the programme, leaving more practitioners than before in a position to deliver post-training services like coaching to others working in the sector.
In addition, the course provides a solid foundation to develop additional and more specialised short-term training courses in areas such as middle management that ensures institutions have functional staff to drive their business growth.
The Financial Institutions Supervision Department at the Bank of the Lao PDR reported that Deposit Microfinance Institutes (DMIs) have continued to enlarge their membership from 107,755 in 2014 to 130,520 in 2015, an increase of just over 21 percent.
The number of women who have deposited at 14 DMIs across the country has also surged by almost 19 percent, from 72,102 members to 85,784 in 2015.
In 2015, DMIs received total deposits of more than 263 billion kip, an increase of 71.8 percent as compared to 2014 at 153 billion kip.
Microfinance institutes have also released loans in three sectors including providing loans for rural families to improve their living conditions, which covers almost 46 percent of the total credit.
The service and trading sectors covered up to 33.88 percent while agriculture and livestock came in at just over 11 percent.
Moreover, Non-Deposit Microfinance Institutes (NDMIs) have increased slightly above 32 percent in asset value from 82 billion kip in 2014 to 107.3 billion kip in 2015.
NDMIs’ credit rose risen from 45 billion kip in 2014 to 60.7 billion kip in 2015, an increase of 45 percent.
NDMIs have continued to increase since 2014 from 31 to 43 institutes in 2015, while their total capital has jumped by 28.7 percent from 36.2 billion kip to 46.7 billion kip.
