Azerbaijan, Baku, Dec 19 /Trend N.Ismayilova/
Association of Microfinance Organizations of Azerbaijan (AMFA) has completed collecting date for two projects on fight against over-indebtedness, executive director Jale Hajiyeva told Trend.
"The work on data collection will be completed tomorrow, and will be followed by analysis, which will be completed in January. We will have the original data project by the end of January," Hajiyeva said.
First project covers four regional centers, Sheki, Lankaran, Ganja, and Baku, where the association collects data on clients who have active loans from several organizations working in the same region.
"Studies in Sheki covered 11 organizations, 15 more in Lenkoran, and about 20 organizations in Baku and Ganja.
The second initiative is funded by European Fund for Southeast Europe (EFSE), and provides technical support to the Polish Center of microfinance. This study will cover 1100 respondents who are the clients of microfinance organizations in 60 regions of the country.
Similar studies were carried out in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Azerbaijan became the third country where such projects are being held. International organizations help to make recommendations regarding the role of microfinance and how much they can improve the situation of excessive debt.
The share of overdue loans (up to 30 days) of microfinance institutions in their total loan portfolio amounted to two percent (up to 16.000 manat) at the end of September and amounted to 3 percent together with the banks involved in microfinance activities.
The association consists of 27 members.