Bolivia

The microfinance industry in Bolivia has been characterized by rapid growth and evolution in recent years. This development was made possible, amongst others, through the proper regulatory framework for specialized microfinance institutions, and a self-regulatory system for unregulated microfinance institutions. Moreover, thanks to the efforts by the MFI's, the degree of financial penetration in the country increased which. This growth has created an increasingly competitive environment, which is inducing a sustained decline in lending rates.

MFIs have expanded their market segments and now provide financial products and services to the rural population, employees and small and medium enterprises. In addition, most MFIs are supervised and are providing a range of products and services such as: various forms of credit and savings, domestic and international money transfers, utility billing, etc. Also, MFIs have become more prudent in their credit policies, have brought their credit recovery mechanisms in arrears and have strengthened their internal audit units credit risk assessment. Finally, several MFIs have renewed the emphasis on quality and customer service. Unregulated MFIs are forming strategic alliances with entities in order to reach auxiliary financial services and savings services to its customers, particularly in rural areas, trying to complement supervised entities in the process of achieving wide coverage with comprehensive financial services and achieve a balance between access and sustainability.

MFIs have been able to cope with the financial crisis more effectively than in specialized consumer credit institutions and the traditional banking whole. Indeed, despite the crisis, the balance of the loan portfolio of MFIs continued to gro. Between 1999 and 2006, the balance of the gross loan portfolio of MFIs has increased by 172% while in the the banking system it has declined by 72%.

The MicroNed members active in Bolivia in 2009 are Cordaid (4 projects), Hivos (1 projects), ICCO (17 projects) and Rabobank Foundation (1 projects). ICCO is the general MicroNed country coordinator for Bolivia.

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MicroNed Country Scan Bolivia (2010 - Spa)
MicroNed Country Scan Bolivia Annexes (2010 - Spa)