Microscope on the Microfinance Business Environment in Latin America and the Caribbean 2008

Date
Nov 2008
A dynamic qualitative scoring model, constructed from 13 indicators that measure specific attributes of the environment for microfinance across 20 Latin American and Caribbean countries. In the second year of the Microscope on the Microfinance Business Environment in Latin America and the Caribbean (the Microscope), the 15 countries from the first year of the study¿Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela¿are again included. To give the index a broader regional scope, five new countries from Central America and the Caribbean¿Costa Rica, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica and Panama¿were added this year. This wider lens, along with shifts in the microfinance environment in individual countries, yielded many changes in the rankings, ultimately providing a deeper and more complete assessment of the industry in the region.