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Microfinance- a long disputed “miracle cure” for global poverty

EBRD's podcast: Pocket Economics: a guide to changing lives

Episode 1: Microfinance- a long disputed “miracle cure” for global poverty

Microcredit first came to public attention in the 80s. It was seen as a tool that could really make a change by funding creation and expansion of microenterprises, producing additional income that would lift the borrowers’ households out of poverty.

However, in recent years the notion of the microfinance as a “miracle cure” has been intensely debated.

Our guest: Ralph de Haas, EBRD’s Head of Research, author of numerous publications on microcredit including Microcredit: Neither miracle nor mirage  will help us shed the light on this complex issue.