| « Ethiopia Leading Purchaser of U.S. Arms and Services | Ethiopia - Eritrea : Fear of War Increasing in Horn of Africa » |

Ethiopia - Amhara Credit and Savings Institution and Dedebit Credit and Savings Institution among Top 50 Microfinance Institutions
Two Microfinance Institutions from Ethiopia are among the Top 50 Microfinance Institutions in the world according to a report by Forbes magazine. Amhara Credit and Savings Institution ranks sixth in the world and Dedebit Credit and Savings Institution ranks 31st in the world.
With 537,000 borrowers and another 225,000 savers (as of December 2006), Amhara Credit & Savings Institution in Ethiopia is one of Africa's largest microfinanciers. On overhead it consumes only 5 cents of every net dollar lent (that's after interest costs are subtracted).
It keeps staff costs low and is frugal on such expenses as electricity. These microlending organizations have low default rates. The share of Amhara's loans in default or more than 30 days late on interest and principal payments, as of year-end 2006, was 1.5%.
These Institutions were chosen from a field of 641 micro-credit providers. To qualify, the institutions must have made available their audited financials and must have passed review by a Forbes panel of advisers.
According to Forbes, The rank is based on the size of their gross loan portfolio; efficiency, which considers operating expense and the cost per borrower as a percent of the gross national income per capita of their country of operation; risk, which looks at the quality of their loan portfolios, measured as the percent of the portfolio at risk greater than 30 days; and return, which is measured as a combination of return on equity and return on assets. Each category is equally weighted for an institution's overall ranking.
Source: Forbes Magazine
| Rank | Name | Country | Scale | Efficiency | Risk | Returns |
| 1 | ASA | Bangladesh | 14 | 83 | 56 | 40 |
| 2 | Bandhan (Society and NBFC) | India | 108 | 49 | 42 | 1 |
| 3 | Banco do Nordeste | Brazil | 46 | 27 | 213 | 25 |
| 4 | Fundación Mundial de la Mujer Bucaramanga | Colombia | 58 | 72 | 193 | 1 |
| 5 | FONDEP Micro-Crédit | Morocco | 119 | 26 | 196 | 1 |
| 6 | Amhara Credit and Savings Institution | Ethiopia | 56 | 126 | 118 | 42 |
| 31 | Dedebit Credit and Savings Institution | Ethiopia | 50 | 246 | 80 | 154 |

Comments are closed for this post.