VOA标准英语2012--Economics Report - Microcredit Is Expanding to New Products for the Poor

Economics Report - Microcredit Is Expanding to New Products for the Poor

This is the VOA Special English Economics Report.

Modern microfinance started with economist¹ Muhammad Yunus. In the nineteen seventies, he started what became the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh. He and the bank jointly² won the Nobel Peace Prize in two thousand six for the idea of offering small loans to the poor to fight poverty.

Last month, Mr. Yunus spoke³ to the New York Times newspaper about lending problems in India. In twenty ten, reports of harmful microlending methods and corruption⁴ shook the state of Andhra Pradesh. Mr. Yunus noted⁵ Andhra Pradesh had intensive microlending activity at the time. He said things got out of control.

We spoke to Ghiyath Nakshbendi about changes in the world of microfinance. He is an expert in international business and teaches microfinance as a business model at the Kogod School of Business at American University.

GHIYATH NAKSHBENDI: “After what we witnessed in Andhra Pradesh, then, for example, the government of India in certain states started taking steps in order to implement⁶, in order to introduce, regulations that will guarantee that these institutions are operating under a strict system.”

Some experts have raised questions about whether microlending lifts women or poor families out of poverty. David Roodman is with the Center for Global Development, a research group in Washington. He says microloans do not do a good job of fighting poverty. He says over three billion dollars went into microcredit in twenty-ten. But many lenders failed because of bad supervision⁷ or failure to repay loans.

In one model, governments or nongovernmental organizations, NGOs, give money to microcredit operations. Interest income is often used up by costs, rather than helping⁸ other poor borrowers. But Ghiyath Nakshbendi says that model is changing.

GHIYATH NAKSHBENDI: “In the old days, when we talk about microfinance, we are talking about an operation by which the funding is coming from wealthy individuals or government, or what have you. So it is the NGO model. Then we discovered that whatever we are getting in terms of contributions, donations and what have you -- we cannot sustain the operation.”

Mr. Nakshbendi says sustainability is now a main goal.

GHIYATH NAKSHBENDI: “We moved in the last five, six years to find ways and means by which make these operations sustainable. Sustainable means simply that, ‘Yes, we are going to rely on donations, but in the meantime, we are going to encourage these borrowers to save some of their money.’”

Money from savings⁹ can then be used for new loans. Mr. Nakshbendi says private equity¹⁰ companies are looking closely at microfinance as an investment. New models are being developed to offer more than business loans.

GHIYATH NAKSHBENDI: “And now in microfinance we talk about loans to start a business. We are talking about educational loans. We are talking about construction loans. We are talking about health insurance loans and what have you.”

And that's the VOA Special English Economics Report. I’m June Simms.

1 economist   

n.经济学家，经济专家，节俭的人

参考例句：

• He cast a professional economist's eyes on the problem.他以经济学行家的眼光审视这个问题。
• He's an economist who thinks he knows all the answers.他是个经济学家，自以为什么都懂。

2 jointly   

ad.联合地，共同地

参考例句：

• Tenants are jointly and severally liable for payment of the rent. 租金由承租人共同且分别承担。
• She owns the house jointly with her husband. 她和丈夫共同拥有这所房子。

3 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

4 corruption   

n.腐败，堕落，贪污

参考例句：

• The people asked the government to hit out against corruption and theft.人民要求政府严惩贪污盗窃。
• The old man reviled against corruption.那老人痛斥了贪污舞弊。

5 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

6 implement   

n.(pl.)工具，器具；vt.实行，实施，执行

参考例句：

• Don't undertake a project unless you can implement it.不要承担一项计划，除非你能完成这项计划。
• The best implement for digging a garden is a spade.在花园里挖土的最好工具是铁锹。

7 supervision   

n.监督，管理

参考例句：

• The work was done under my supervision.这项工作是在我的监督之下完成的。
• The old man's will was executed under the personal supervision of the lawyer.老人的遗嘱是在律师的亲自监督下执行的。

8 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

9 savings   

n.存款，储蓄

参考例句：

• I can't afford the vacation,for it would eat up my savings.我度不起假，那样会把我的积蓄用光的。
• By this time he had used up all his savings.到这时，他的存款已全部用完。

10 equity   

n.公正，公平，（无固定利息的）股票

参考例句：

• They shared the work of the house with equity.他们公平地分担家务。
• To capture his equity,Murphy must either sell or refinance.要获得资产净值，墨菲必须出售或者重新融资。