2004 Arab Microfinance Analysis and Benchmarking Report - Arabic

How well do Arab MFIs perform when compared to their global peers? What are their strengths? What differences exist across countries? How does performance vary across institutions? What challenges lie ahead for the sector, and how well prepared are institutions to face them? The The Arab Benchmarking Report 2004 addresses these questions by examining the performance of the Arab microfinance sector in the global context and highlighting variations within the region.

The microfinance sector in the Arab region continues to evolve and grow while remaining resolutely focused on serving a single market segment: the low end. Institutions in the region are slowly catching up with global norms of scale and outreach, but they already lead the pack in depth of outreach. The sector also continues on parallel tracks, increasingly further apart. While the sector as a whole slowly increases outreach and makes measured steps to greater profitability, a handful of large institutions continue to their lightening fast growth to maintain and build on their preponderant market share. With large efficient bases, these MFI have already lowered interest rates, passing some of their efficiency gains to clients.