IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jecomi/v8y2020i3p63-d396841.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Poverty Alleviation and Microfinance for the Economy of Pakistan: A Case Study of Khushhali Bank in Sargodha

Author

Listed:
  • Stylianou Tasos

    (Department of Economics, International Hellenic University, Dimitriou Poliorkitou 65, PC 54633 Thessaloniki, Greece)

  • Muhammad Ijaz Amjad

    (Higher Education Department, Government of the Punjab, Punjab 54000, Pakistan)

  • Masood Sarwar Awan

    (Department of Economics, University of Sargodha, Punjab 40100, Pakistan)

  • Muhammad Waqas

    (Department of Economics, University of Sargodha, Punjab 40100, Pakistan)

Abstract

Poverty is a universal reality, and no one can deny the omnipresence of it all over the world. It is considered as the most harmful economic and social problem of human beings since their creation. It affects individuals as well as society as a whole in a very destructive way, and it is considered that poverty is the mother of all human rights violations. Perhaps no one would argue against the notion that microfinance can be a very useful apparatus in human, social, economic, political and national development. Microfinance has been established to fill the gap of a missing credit market for the poor. Among all other anti-poverty strategies, it has become one of the most important and successful tools for poverty elimination throughout the world. In this study, we investigate the impact of microfinance on poverty alleviation for the economy of Pakistan. The literacy is very poor for the area of Pakistan, so our research will help policy makers in making the right decisions in order to help the people that are living below the poverty line. Primary data of 300 households from Khushhali Microfinance Bank Limited were collected. The findings reveal that microfinance imparts a vital role in poverty eradication where the poverty level has decreased from 42.67% in comparison household (CHH) to 29.33% in the program household (PHH). Finally, it unveils the fact that there is a negative association between the provision of microfinance and poverty level of the household. The availability of micro financing facilities to the poor has declined the poverty rate from 42.67 percent to 29.33 percent. The Logistic Regression model implies that poverty has a negative association with the duration of microfinance, education and existence of a market in the locality, whereas it is positively related to family size and gender of the respondent.

Suggested Citation

  • Stylianou Tasos & Muhammad Ijaz Amjad & Masood Sarwar Awan & Muhammad Waqas, 2020. "Poverty Alleviation and Microfinance for the Economy of Pakistan: A Case Study of Khushhali Bank in Sargodha," Economies, MDPI, vol. 8(3), pages 1-18, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jecomi:v:8:y:2020:i:3:p:63-:d:396841
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7099/8/3/63/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7099/8/3/63/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Asad K. Ghalib & Issam Malki & Katsushi S. Imai, 2015. "Microfinance and Household Poverty Reduction: Empirical Evidence from Rural Pakistan," Oxford Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 43(1), pages 84-104, March.
    2. Simanowitz, Anton, 2003. "Appraising the Poverty Outreach of Microfinance: A Review of the CGAP Poverty Assessment Tool (PAT)," Occasional Papers 23743, University of Sussex, Imp-Act: Improving the Impact of Microfinance on Poverty: Action Research Program.
    3. Sabina Alkire & James Foster, 2011. "Understandings and misunderstandings of multidimensional poverty measurement," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 9(2), pages 289-314, June.
    4. Marguerite S. Robinson, 2001. "The Microfinance Revolution," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 28956, December.
    5. Cull, Robert & Demirgüç-Kunt, Asli & Morduch, Jonathan, 2011. "Does Regulatory Supervision Curtail Microfinance Profitability and Outreach?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 39(6), pages 949-965, June.
    6. Sunia Ayuub, 2013. "Impact of Microfinance on Poverty Alleviation. A Case Study of NRSP in Bahawalpur of Pakistan," International Journal of Academic Research in Accounting, Finance and Management Sciences, Human Resource Management Academic Research Society, International Journal of Academic Research in Accounting, Finance and Management Sciences, vol. 3(1), pages 119-135, January.
    7. Park, Albert & Ren, Changqing, 2001. "Microfinance with Chinese Characteristics," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 29(1), pages 39-62, January.
    8. Mario Torre, 2006. "A New Conception of Microfinance," Palgrave Macmillan Studies in Banking and Financial Institutions, in: Microfinance, chapter 1, pages 1-19, Palgrave Macmillan.
    9. Weiss, John & Montgomery, Heather & Kurmanalieva, Elvira, 2003. "Micro finance and poverty reduction in Asia: what is the evidence?," MPRA Paper 33140, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    10. Awan, Masood Sarwar & Malik, Nouman & Sarwar, Haroon & Waqas, Muhammad, 2011. "Impact of education on poverty reduction," MPRA Paper 31826, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    11. Paola Leone & Pasqualina Porretta, 2014. "Microcredit Guarantee Funds in the Mediterranean," Palgrave Studies in Impact Finance, Palgrave Macmillan, number 978-1-137-45299-3, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Dilruba Khanam & Muhammad Mohiuddin & Asadul Hoque & Olaf Weber, 2018. "Financing micro-entrepreneurs for poverty alleviation: a performance analysis of microfinance services offered by BRAC, ASA, and Proshika from Bangladesh," Journal of Global Entrepreneurship Research, Springer;UNESCO Chair in Entrepreneurship, vol. 8(1), pages 1-17, December.
    2. Simon Zaby, 2019. "Science Mapping of the Global Knowledge Base on Microfinance: Influential Authors and Documents, 1989–2019," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(14), pages 1-21, July.
    3. Wijesiri, Mahinda & Yaron, Jacob & Meoli, Michele, 2017. "Assessing the financial and outreach efficiency of microfinance institutions: Do age and size matter?," Journal of Multinational Financial Management, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 63-76.
    4. Jacinta C. Nwachukwu & Simplice A. Asongu, 2015. "The Determinants of Interest Rates in Microbanks: Age and Scale," Research Africa Network Working Papers 15/004, Research Africa Network (RAN).
    5. Asma Boussetta, 2022. "Microfinance, Poverty and Education," Comparative Economic Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Association for Comparative Economic Studies, vol. 64(1), pages 86-108, March.
    6. Maxime LEBOVICS & Niels HERMES & Marek HUDON, 2016. "Are Financial And Social Efficiency Mutually Exclusive? A Case Study Of Vietnamese Microfinance Institutions," Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 87(1), pages 55-77, December.
    7. Ian Carrillo, 2013. "The successes and challenges of microfinance," Chapters, in: Gary Paul Green (ed.), Handbook of Rural Development, chapter 11, pages i-ii, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    8. Louis, Philippe & Seret, Alex & Baesens, Bart, 2013. "Financial Efficiency and Social Impact of Microfinance Institutions Using Self-Organizing Maps," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 197-210.
    9. Jia, Xiangping & Cull, Robert & Guo, Pei & Ma, Tao, 2016. "Commercialization and mission drift: Evidence from a large Chinese microfinance institution," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 17-32.
    10. B. Mak Arvin & Byron Lew (ed.), 2015. "Handbook on the Economics of Foreign Aid," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 15762.
    11. Gul, Ferdinand A. & Podder, Jyotirmoy & Shahriar, Abu Zafar M., 2017. "Performance of Microfinance Institutions: Does Government Ideology Matter?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 1-15.
    12. Aroosa Khan & Muhammad Shaukat Malik, 2020. "Micro-Financing: A Comparative Study of Bangladesh & Pakistan," Business and Economic Research, Macrothink Institute, vol. 10(3), pages 181-202, September.
    13. Wijesiri, Mahinda & Yaron, Jacob & Meoli, Michele, 2015. "Performance of microfinance institutions in achieving the poverty outreach and financial sustainability: When age and size matter?," MPRA Paper 69821, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    14. Ashfaq Ahmad Khan & Wiqar Ahmad, 2013. "Matching resources with demand: a flawed strategy?," Asia-Pacific Development Journal, United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), vol. 20(1), pages 63-89, June.
    15. Kieran Donaghue, 2004. "Microfinance in the Asia Pacific," Asian-Pacific Economic Literature, The Crawford School, The Australian National University, vol. 18(1), pages 41-61, May.
    16. Hailu Abebe Wondirad, 2020. "Competition and microfinance institutions’ performance: evidence from India," International Journal of Corporate Social Responsibility, Springer, vol. 5(1), pages 1-19, December.
    17. Enrico Bellazzecca & Olga Biosca, 2022. "Intended and unintended effects of specialized regulation on microfinance institutions’ double‐bottom line management," Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 93(4), pages 977-999, December.
    18. repec:mth:ijafr8:v:9:y:2019:i:1:p:317-339 is not listed on IDEAS
    19. Jiali Jenna Tang & Shakil Quayes & George Joseph, 2020. "Microfinance institutions, financial intermediation and the role of deposits," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 60(2), pages 1635-1672, June.
    20. Joshua K. Ault & Andrew Spicer, 2014. "The institutional context of poverty: State fragility as a predictor of cross-national variation in commercial microfinance lending," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(12), pages 1818-1838, December.
    21. Atul MEHTA & Joysankar BHATTACHARYA, 2018. "Financial sector development and the poor in developing countries: revisiting the access to finance channel," Theoretical and Applied Economics, Asociatia Generala a Economistilor din Romania - AGER, vol. 0(3(616), A), pages 153-168, Autumn.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jecomi:v:8:y:2020:i:3:p:63-:d:396841. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.