Research on the Status and Development of Microfinance in Myanmar under Economic Reform

2019 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 16K02007
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Area studies
• Research Institution: Toyo University
• Principal Investigator: Okamoto Ikuko 東洋大学, 国際学部, 教授 (00450487)
• Project Period (FY): 2016-04-01 – 2020-03-31
• Keywords: マイクロファイナンス / ミャンマー / 農村金融

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The purpose of this research is to identify the significance of microfinance in Myanmar, which was promoted as a part of economic reform starting 2011, especially focusing on the impact on poverty reduction and the problems in the system design. It was found that expansion of microfinance has relaxed credit constraints of some economic class both in urban and rural areas in Myanmar. However, there were some issues such as an imbalance in the targeted area and the households and non-conformity of system design to the real condition of the households　economic activities.
Given the scarcity of the research on the working of current Myanmar's financial market based on the household data, especially focusing on microfinance, this research provides some baseline information for further research on the financial market.

Free Research Field

農業経済学　地域研究

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

ミャンマーではマイクロファイナンスが本格的に始動しはじめてからまだ日が浅く、急激な拡大の一方でその実態は十分明らかとなってきていなかった。特に世帯レベルでの影響や金融行動の変化に焦点をあてた研究はきわめて少ない。その意味で、本研究は限定された事例をベースにしたものではあるが、今後のミャンマー金融市場の研究の進展に寄与しうると考える。また、政策としてマイクロファイナンス・プログラムの量的拡大に焦点があてられてきた傾向があるが、ミャンマー経済の近年の変化に適合した質的な改善の必要性も浮き彫りにしたと考えられる。