Inclusive Growth: Improving Microfinance Regulation to Support Growth and Innovation in Micro-enterprise

低收入经济体的微型企业雇用了数亿穷人，对经济增长作出了重要贡献，其中许多企业在正规经济之外经营。在正规经济不能提供足够就业机会的发展中国家，微型企业对城市贫民的生存至关重要，是城市经济增长的关键平台。越来越多的城市增长发生在二级城镇，这些城镇没有得到充分的研究，微型企业在经济增长部门蓬勃发展。例如，2011年，世界上一半的锡产量来自手工开采。同样，建筑业是进入城市就业的常见行业，广泛依赖自营工人和打工仔。从远东到非洲进口消费品的快速增长吸引了成千上万的街头小贩；非洲旅游业的增长使许多微型企业家从事古玩的制造和销售以及其他旅游服务；同时，越来越多的城市和农村家庭参与渔业或农产品的加工。然而，最近的证据表明，即使参与经济增长部门，微型企业家在实施创新和扩大其商业层面的贸易方面也面临重大障碍。提出的两个原因是：获得资本和其他金融服务的障碍；以及不受监管的服务和缺乏消费者保护对其业务的有害影响。因此，小额信贷的增长引起了人们的关注。由于过度出售贷款、贷款提供者之间的竞争以及流动性过剩，大量借款人现在负债过度，以至于永远无法偿还。印度的问题已被广泛报道，例如在安得拉邦（Andhra Pradesh），借款人因陷入债务螺旋式上升而自杀。在另一个极端，在非洲，最近的研究表明，由于产品不合适和对制度缺乏信任，微型企业家无法利用日益增长的微型金融部门。本研究考察了五个国家（非洲的坦桑尼亚、肯尼亚、卢旺达和埃塞俄比亚以及印度的安得拉邦）二级城镇的五个经济增长部门（零售业、建筑业、采矿业、食品加工和旅游服务业）的小额信贷监管、小额信贷服务和微型企业，以回答关键问题：在什么样的机制和监管条件下，小额信贷服务促进了经济增长部门的基层微型企业的成长？该研究的假设是，国家和地方对小额信贷机构的管理和监督不力，以及缺乏安全网，特别是国家对小额信贷机构客户的消费者保护条例，可能会限制小额信贷服务的可及性和接受程度，或者导致贫穷借款人的债务负担过重。因此，缺乏对小额信贷服务的消费者保护条例阻碍了微型企业的创新和成长。本研究通过坦桑尼亚、肯尼亚、卢旺达、埃塞俄比亚和印度的比较案例进行探讨。研究的目的是了解和比较分析：1)国家和地方对小额信贷中消费者保护的政策，在案例研究城市中；2)可提供的小额信贷套餐类型所固有的消费者保护机制的实施情况；3)小额信贷的可获得性及其对微型企业成长的影响；4)微型企业接受小额信贷服务的障碍和收益；为了加深对所有利益相关者的理解并为国内和国际实践提供信息，以及理论辩论：5)小额信贷中的消费者保护政策、竞争性小额信贷模式、金融包容性和微型企业成长。

Micro-enterprises in low-income economies employ hundreds of millions of poor people and make crucial contributions to economic growth, many operating outside the formal economy. In developing countries, where the formal economy cannot provide sufficient jobs, micro-enterprise is critical to the survival of the urban poor, and a key platform for urban economic growth.Increasingly urban growth is taking place in secondary towns, which are not well researched, and where micro-enterprises thrive in economic growth sectors. For example, in 2011 half the world's tin production came from artisanal mining. Similarly, construction is a common entry sector into urban employment and widely reliant on own-account workers and work gangs. The rapid growth in importing consumer goods from the far East to Africa has attracted hundreds of thousands to street-vending; the growth in tourism to Africa has seen many micro-entrepreneurs take up the manufacture and sale of curios and other tourism services; while growing numbers of urban and rural households are involved in the processing of fishery or agriculture produce. However, recent evidence suggests that, even when involved in economic growth sectors, micro-entrepreneurs face significant barriers in implementing innovations and expanding their businesses-level trading. Two reasons which have been put forward are the obstacles to accessing capital and other financial services; and the detrimental impact of unregulated services and lack of consumer protection on their businesses. Thus the growth of microfinance has raised concerns. Significant numbers of borrowers are now over-indebted to a point where they can never repay, as a result of overselling of loans, competition amongst providers, and surplus liquidity. Problems in India have been widely reported, with a spate of suicides, for example in Andhra Pradesh, by borrowers caught in a spiral of debt. At the other extreme, in Africa recent research indicates that micro-entrepreneurs are not accessing the growing microfinance sector, prevented by a combination of unsuitable products and lack of trust in the system.This research examines microfinance regulation, microfinance services and micro-enterprises in five economic growth sectors (retailing, construction, mining, food processing and tourism service) in secondary towns of five countries (Tanzania, Kenya, Rwanda and Ethiopia in Africa and Andhra Pradesh in India), to answer the key question: By what mechanisms and under what regulatory conditions, do micro-finance services facilitate grassroots, micro-enterprise growth in economic growth sectors? The hypothesis of the research is that poor national and local regulation and supervision of MFIs, and lack of safety nets, in particular national consumer protection regulations for MFI customers, may either limit the accessibility and take-up of microfinance services, or result in excessive burdens of debt for poor borrowers. Thus, lack of consumer protection regulations for MFI services inhibits micro-enterprises from innovation and growth. The research is explored through comparative case studies in Tanzania, Kenya, Rwanda, Ethiopia and India.The research objectives are to understand and comparatively analyse:1) National and local policies on consumer protection in micro-finance provision, and in the case study cities:2) implementation of consumer protection mechanisms inherent in types of micro-finance package available; 3) the availability of micro-finance and impact on micro-enterprises' growth of alternative types of micro-finance;4) barriers to and benefits of take-up of micro-finance services experienced by micro-enterprises;in order to deepen understanding and inform national and international practice among all stakeholders, as well as theoretical debate:5) on consumer protection policy in microfinance, competing micro-finance models, financial inclusion, and micro-enterprise growth.