Microfinance Gateway>Microlending Gains Ground in US as Recession Increases Demand for Small Loans

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Home » News & Opinion » Microlending Gains Ground in US as Recession Increases Demand for Small Loans

Microlending Gains Ground in US as Recession Increases Demand for Small Loans
Shevory, K.

Innovations from the "developing" world are increasingly finding a place in the United States as people cope with the recession and lack of liquidity. As part of last year's economic stimulus bill US$54 million was granted to the Small Business Administration for lending and technical assistance to microlenders. Cities like San Francisco and New York have expanded or introduced their own microfinance programs. This year loan applications at many of the country's 362 microfinance outfits have more than doubled.

To meet this rising demand in the United States, Grameen Bank, which has lent $9.4 billion through more than 2,500 of its branches worldwide, has opened four new branches in New York and one in Omaha in the last two years, under the name Grameen America. Similarly, the erstwhile overseas microlending "middleman", Kiva, has helped lend $900,000 to 137 American companies through www.kiva.org.

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Posted: 29 Jul 2010
Source: The New York Times
Originally Published: 28 Jul 2010