Microfinance Revolution: Lessons from Indonesia (Volume 2)

Microfinance Revolution examines Indonesia's experience in commercial microfinance - its stability, outreach, and profitability even during the recent severe crisis - and focuses on Bank Rakyat Indonesia's (BRI's) unit desa system, the world's largest sustainable microbanking system.

In particular, the structure of this book can be summarised as follows:

• Chapter 8 provides an introduction to Indonesia through mid-2001;
• Chapter 9 reviews the long history of this country in rural development and rural financial institutions and offers a clear background for understanding microfinance in Indonesia today;
• Chapter 10 describes Bank Dagang Bali, the oldest licensed general bank specialising in commercial microfinance currently operating in a developing country;

The development and growth of BRI's microbanking (unit desa) system from 1970-96 are considered in chapters 11-15;

• Chapter 11 examines the system as it developed into a massive, failed subsidised rural credit programme (1970-83);
• Chapters 12-14 explore the unit desas' transformation into a nationwide commercial microbanking system (1984-96), covering topics such as policy issues, lending, savings, and organisational reforms;
• Chapter 15 documents and analyses the extraordinary stability of the unit desas through 2001 - with some 20 million clients and more than 15 years of profitability - and other commercial microfinance organisations during Indonesia's recent crisis.