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Microcredit program aids Sichuan quake-affected residents
By Shining Zhang and Huang Zhiling
Updated: 2009-09-07 21:05 CFPA first implemented the initiative on a trial basis in Mianzhu. It set up the Mianzhu Branch Office of CFPA Microfinance Management Ltd Co at the end of last year to put the microcredit program into operation. In March 2009, the initiative was formally launched and by the end of last month, it had provided loans surpassing 16 million yuan nationwide. "Nearly 6 million yuan was provided in Mianzhu benefiting 338 farmers. Two hundred ninety-eight families have rebuilt their houses and 40 families restarted their businesses or expanded their business scope," Liu said. Li Chenghai, 47, is a farmer in Shuangtu village, Zundao town in Mianzhu. Before the quake, he ran a home decoration company with a friend in Mianzhu. As business was not thriving, Li alone lost nearly 20,000 yuan. But because he had not repaid a loan he borrowed from the local credit cooperative, he could not borrow a new loan to rebuild his home damaged in the quake. Li decided to build his house himself to save money but construction of the house needed more than 40,000 yuan. He was short 10,000 yuan, so he applied for the money from the Mianzhu Branch Office of CFPA Microfinance Management Ltd Co. After his house was built, Li helped other villagers affected by the quake rebuild new houses, earning at least 100 yuan a day. Now, "I am optimistic in life," he said. The initiative, designed to replicate the famous Grameen Bank program which has been practicing in Bangladesh for over 30 years and has released about 5 million Bangladeshi people from poverty, is popular because the bank makes it easy to apply for loans. "One does not need anything like a mortgage. He or she only needs to find a warrantor. After one files the application, he or she can get the loan in between three and seven days," said Li Jiaying, a customer manager of the Mianzhu Branch Office of CFPA Microfinance Management Ltd Co. "Another reason is the interest cost for borrowing a loan is only 8 percent,” she added. Li Jiaying, 33, was a farmer in Qinjiakan village in Zundao town, Mianzhu, when she learned last December that the Mianzhu Branch Office of CFPA Microfinance Management Ltd Co was recruiting customer managers. She signed up for the recruitment and eventually got the job. Since the initiative was launched in March, Li has helped 188 farmers borrow loans surpassing 3 million yuan. Because each loan involves a relatively small sum ranging from 5,000 to 30,000 yuan and customer managers of the CFPA Microfinance Management Ltd Co Mianzhu Branch Office are locals who are familiar with loan borrowers, Liu believes that 100 percent of the loans will be repaid by borrowers. He said the initiative will also be implemented in other quake-hit regions in Sichuan.
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