授信給應得者--新冠疫情造成微型信貸緊縮

Credit where it’s due 授信給應得者

＊credit where credit's due.  ：該讚揚的就讚揚

Covid-19 is causing a microcredit crunch

新冠疫情造成微型信貸緊縮

Lenders deserve relief, belief and a dose of red tape

應給放款者紓困、信任和一點繁文縟節

Leaders

Aug 15th 2020 edition

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Leaders

Aug 15th 2020 edition

Aug 15th 2020

Across the developing world vast numbers of people have lost their jobs or seen their incomes fall. Many are being forced to sell their meagre belongings to pay for food. Ideally state handouts would plug the gap in their finances, but in many countries the public coffers are empty. Often people are too poor a credit risk, or live too remotely, to get help from banks. Microcredit, a form of lending tailored to them, should be part of the answer, but the industry is flunking one of its biggest tests.

放眼開發中國家，無數人失業或收入下降。許多人被迫出售微薄的財產來填飽肚子。理想情況下，國家的救濟可填補他們的財政缺口，但多國財庫空虛。人們常因貧窮有信用風險，或居住在窮鄉僻壤，無法獲銀行援助。「微型信貸」這種為他們量身定做的放貸形式，應成為部分解方，但這個行業卻有個重大考驗未能過關。

In the 1990s and 2000s microcredit was one of the next big things in development finance. In 2006 Bangladesh’s Grameen Bank and its founder, Muhammad Yunus, won the Nobel peace prize. The industry’s champions developed a grand ambition. Letting the poor borrow and invest, they argued, would unleash their inner entrepreneur and allow them to earn their way out of poverty. A new model emerged. Instead of demanding collateral, which few poor people have, loan officers judged creditworthiness by assessing expected income. Lending often went to groups of people, who knew and monitored each other better than banks could. That also saved officers time and hassle, creating efficiencies that enabled clients to borrow small sums at affordable rates.

在1990年代和2000年代，微型信貸是發展金融領域的明日之星。 2006年，孟加拉的格萊珉銀行及其創始人穆罕默德·尤努斯（Muhammad Yunus）獲得諾貝爾和平獎。這一行的佼佼者胸懷大志，聲稱讓窮人借錢和投資，將釋放窮人內心的企業家，進而憑己力賺錢擺脫貧困。一個新模式出現了。授信者藉評估預期所得，來判斷值不值得授信，而不是要求抵押品，畢竟拿得出（抵押品）的窮人少之又少。貸款通常撥給一群人，他們彼此認識、互相監督，做得比銀行更好。這也節省了放款者的時間和麻煩，創造了效率，使客戶能以負擔得起的利率，借入小額資金。

Today the lending portfolios of microfinance institutions (MFIs) are worth a combined $124bn. But the industry is in trouble. Covid-19 is straining its finances. Repayments, usually done in cash and in person, have plummeted, yet the banks and investors which provide the MFIs with funds still expect money. A crunch looms. 

如今微型信貸機構（MFI）的放款總額達1,240億美元，但這一行正陷入麻煩。新冠疫情造成財務壓力。通常用現金當面進行的還款活動陡降，但提供微型信貸機構資金的銀行和投資者仍期待收錢。資金緊俏隱約可見。

More than two-thirds of MFIs have cut lending, often by at least half. Nearly one-third do not have enough cash to meet outflows this quarter. If only this were the industry’s only problem. Compounding it is a set of deeper, longer-standing issues that have begun to undermine its reputation for efficiency and probity .

超過三分之二的微型信貸機構已削減放款，通常至少減半。將近三分之一現金不足，以致本季資金入不敷出。這一行問題不止於此。一系列更深層、長期存在的問題使情況雪上加霜，開始破壞這一行以效率和誠實著稱的信譽。

As the industry has grown in size it has also grown in complexity. From insurance to leasing, a lengthening suite of services has turned microcredit into microfinance, adding new players to the fray. A mishmash of regulators have struggled to keep up. Patchy regulation and lots of loopholes have become a serious problem as the industry’s high repayment rates—well above 90% on average—have lured for-profit lenders, some of which demand land titles as collateral, charge extortionate rates and use heavy-handed tactics to collect payments. From Congo to Kosovo, scandals have surfaced.

微型信貸行業規模擴大，複雜性也隨之增加。從保險到租賃，不斷延展的服務組合，已將微型信貸轉變為微型金融，新的競爭者陸續投入。有如雜牌軍的監管官員難以跟上腳步。拼拼湊湊的法規和大量的漏洞，已形成嚴重問題，因為該行業的高還款率（平均在90％以上）吸引以營利為目的的放款人，其中一些人要求以土地所有權做為抵押品，收取高利率，並採取粗暴手段收款。從剛果到科索沃，醜聞逐漸浮現。

An expanding body of academic research suggests that microfinance consistently falls short of its boosters’ admittedly high expectations. Among the economists who have plucked at its laurels are last year’s Nobel prizewinners, Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo. They and others have found that its effects on investment, revenue and consumption are small and uncertain. The result is waning interest in the industry from blue-chip investors and donors.

愈來愈多的學術研究顯示，微型信貸始終未能達到支持者坦承過高的期望。一些經濟學家已摘除其桂冠，包括去年諾貝爾獎得主巴納吉（Abhijit Banerjee）和杜芙若（Esther Duflo）。他們和其他人發現，微型信貸對投資、收入和消費的影響很小且不確定。這結果使績優股投資人和捐助者對該行業的興趣減弱。

The timing is terrible. People use MFIs for a variety of needs, from buying goods to helping relatives. What matters is less what the funds are spent on than households’ and firms’ ability to smooth their income and outgoings over time, which is particularly important when bad news, or a bad season—or a pandemic—strikes. Without microcredit, covid-19 means more people in desperate situations will turn to loan sharks and pawnbrokers, at the risk of falling into debt spirals.

時機很糟。人們使用微型信貸機構來滿足各種需求，從購買商品到幫助親戚都有。最重要的不是這些資金花在何處，而是家庭和公司緩和收支失衡的能力。這在壞消息、慘淡季節或疫情來襲時尤其重要。沒有微型信貸，疫情又肆虐，意味更多陷入絕境的人將轉向放高利貸者和當舖，面臨掉落債務漩渦的風險。

What to do? In the short term, viable MFIs need support. Donors and investors should consider moratoriums, reschedulings or injecting capital. Nearly half of MFIs say they have not had any discussion with funders yet. Supervisors may need to loosen reserve requirements to provide breathing space. Forbearance with struggling clients should be tolerated, as long as MFIs sketch out a path back to normal for when the pandemic is over.

該怎麼做？短期來看，可行的小額信貸機構需要支持。捐助者和投資者應考慮暫緩償付、展延債務或注入資本。近一半的微型信貸機構表示，尚未與資助者進行任何討論。監管機關可能需要放寬準備金要求，提供喘息空間。寬容對待財務窘困客戶的業者，應予以包容，只要微型信貸機構能勾勒出疫後重返常軌的藍圖。

In the longer term governments need to crack down on predatory lending and make rules more consistent and uniform. That will prevent vulnerable people from being exploited and also help restore confidence in legitimate microlending firms.Calibrating regulation is not easy, but some obvious measures include better information-sharing, so MFIs know what they are doing and people can shop around; an obligation to properly assess borrowers’ ability to repay; transparency on rates and fees; protection against harassment; and credible grievance mechanisms, advertised in information campaigns. For governments battling deep recessions microfinance may seem a sideshow. But all MFIs together have 140m customers, so nursing the industry back to health will give a big bang for the buck.■ 

長遠來看，政府需要取締掠奪性放貸行為，並使規則更趨一致和統一。這將防止弱勢者受到剝削，也有助於恢復對合法微型貸款公司的信心。法規校正並非易事，但有些措施顯然可行，包括：加強資訊共享，以便微型信貸機構知道自己在做什麼，民眾也可貨比三家；善盡妥善評估借款人還款能力的義務；利率和費用公開透明；保護客戶免受騷擾；以及可靠的申訴機制，透過資訊宣傳公諸於世。對於忙著與嚴重衰退搏鬥的政府來說，微型信貸似乎是次要的。但是微型信貸機構合起來總共有1.4億客戶，因此，呵護這行業恢復健康，這筆錢將會是一本萬利。