Microfinance industry - the case of Pakistan

The article Pakistan: a protected microfinance borrower? written by Arsala Kidwai from the International Development Law Organization - IDLO provides an insight of the legislation enforced to regulate MFIs activities in the country. The paper monitors and evaluates laws and regulations in place in Pakistan against a number of indicators (listed below) to state rights and warranties of microfinance customers.

• Transparency and disclosure in lending practices and initiatives to improve financial literacy.
• Types of collaterals collected and procedures of enforcement.
• Initiatives to prevent overindebtedness and limit multiple lending (like credit information  databases)
• R ecovery loans mechanisms
• Availability and accessibility of redress mechanisms to the consumer.

International Development Law Organization

Pakistan floods...It never rains but it pours

Pakistan, last summer have been striken by severe floods and almost 20m of Pakistani had to evacuate their houses. An article recently published on the Financial Times website talks about the return of the farmers in Thatta a city in Sindh province at just 130 km from Karachi. Only 3 months after the flooding the victims are receiving with regularity food and assistance. A lot of problems affect the population and also slow down donors'interventions...first of all the risk of corruption and bribery. One of the main problems resides in the recognition of tenants and farmers rights. The establishment of a computerized cadastrial system registering not only properties but also the land contracts and tenancy agreements among land owners and farmers would be a crucial element to suppport the rights of farmers and ensure for these the access to sudsidies and compensative measures helping them recovering from this natural disaster.
To have an idea of the dimensions of this natural disaster it worths consult the gallery from the Disaster Charter the network of national space agencies collecting togheter data and satellite images gathered by the member agencies