Myanmar’s five million microfinance borrowers will resume repayments on May 15, but many are now jobless or on reduced incomes because of COVID-19 and the health of the US$1.3 billion sector is unclear.
A “collateral-free” loan scheme for small and medium enterprises launched by the Myanmar government in 2014 looks functional on paper, but business owners say it is nearly impossible to access and does not provide enough money to be useful.
BY Frontier
