English 中文网 漫画网 爱新闻iNews 翻译论坛
中国网站品牌栏目(频道)
当前位置: Language Tips > Special Speed News VOA慢速

Microsavings could mean big gains for the world's poor

[ 2011-11-21 11:14]     字号 [] [] []  
免费订阅30天China Daily双语新闻手机报:移动用户编辑短信CD至106580009009

This is the VOA Special English Economics Report.

When it comes to savings, no amount is too small. Microsaving is a growing part of the international movement of microfinance. The aim is to bring financial services to poor people.

Modern microfinance started with Nobel Prize-winning economist Muhammad Yunus in Bangladesh. In the 1970s, he started small loan programs that would become the Grameen Bank. Currently, microcredit providers are in over 100 countries.

Now, microfinance institutions are starting to offer other services, including savings plans.

Recently, the non-profit group Small Enterprise Education and Promotion held a conference in Washington. SEEP works with over 120 groups around the world in efforts to cut poverty. It does this by supporting small businesses.

The goal is help microfinance industry experts share ideas. One idea is called Financial Access at Birth, or FAB. It is designed to start each person with a financial citizenship at birth through a savings account connected to a bank deposit.

Rosita Najmi is FAB's program director.

ROSITA NAJMI: "FAB starts with financial inclusion, but it creates other opportunities of inclusion across other sectors of health or education and I think that's what the international development community needs."

Mobile or wireless technology will be important to many microfinance services. One meeting at the SEEP conference examined a mobile phone application for saving money. Debbie Dean of the Grameen Foundation says these efforts can also be extended to other financial services.

DEBBIE DEAN: "So, I think it's probably going to be a combination of savings programs and money transfer programs, payment systems that all kind of converge together to be able to provide the customer with the most flexibility and the most convenience to meet their needs."

But offering savings, payments and other services requires more training and controls. Rashid Bajwa leads Pakistan's largest microfinance organization. He says more training is needed.

RASHID BAJWA: "When microfinance institutions start offering savings, then they have to be trained to do that. This is a specialization which needs specialized people to adopt. You have to have a risk management system in place, you have to have an internal audit system in place, you have to have a huge set of new things which you generally don't need when you are just doing microcredit."

Small savings deposits add up. And interest over time makes them grow. This can have a surprising effect for savers and societies.

Rashid Bajwa puts it this way. He says the amount of money that poor people have is unimaginable.

And that's the Economics Report in VOA Special English. And I'm Mario Ritter.

microsaving: 小额储蓄

microfinance: 小额信贷;微型金融

Related Stories:

近距离观察:小额信贷业发展阵痛

Indian state seeks limits on microfinance after reports of abuses

Nobel Laureate urges financial services for poor

Small loans grow in a big way

(来源:VOA 编辑:Rosy)

 
中国日报网英语点津版权说明:凡注明来源为“中国日报网英语点津:XXX(署名)”的原创作品,除与中国日报网签署英语点津内容授权协议的网站外,其他任何网站或单位未经允许不得非法盗链、转载和使用,违者必究。如需使用,请与010-84883631联系;凡本网注明“来源:XXX(非英语点津)”的作品,均转载自其它媒体,目的在于传播更多信息,其他媒体如需转载,请与稿件来源方联系,如产生任何问题与本网无关;本网所发布的歌曲、电影片段,版权归原作者所有,仅供学习与研究,如果侵权,请提供版权证明,以便尽快删除。
 

关注和订阅

人气排行

翻译服务

中国日报网翻译工作室

我们提供:媒体、文化、财经法律等专业领域的中英互译服务
电话:010-84883468
邮件:translate@chinadaily.com.cn