Cambodians face mounting pain from microfinance debt voanews.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from voanews.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
The report “A Snapshot of the Gold Mining Industry in Cambodia: Rights Violations, and Environmental Damage” notes that a government official in 2007 touted the industry’s promise of reducing reliance on donor aid and funding everything from schools to infrastructure and social programs.
Microfinance was meant to reduce poverty, but borrowers allege they have been victims of ‘predatory’ loans and repayment tactics, which have led to desperation and deaths
Microfinance was hailed as a way to change the lives of hundreds of millions of people without access to credit. It worked so well that Grameen Bank founder Muhammad Yunus was awarded a Nobel Prize. But then, banks jumped in to get in on the profits. To manage high debt levels, Cambodians are migrating for work, eating less and even pulling their children out of school.