Microfinance has become a significant global phenomenon, as an effective means of providing financial services to poor and low-income people who don’t generally have access to these services from formal financial institutions. In recent years the concept of Financial Inclusion has become increasingly widespread in the realization that the underserved population requires a broad range of such services, not merely savings and credit, to enable them to conduct their financial lives more efficiently.

In Myanmar the microfinance sector has developed rapidly since the government enacted a Microfinance Law in November 2011, but MFIs still play a very minor role in the provision of financial services in the country. The overall level of financial inclusion remains very low, with only 30% of adults using regulated financial services. The rural usage of financial services (53%) exceeds the urban usage (45%), which is a reversal of the normal global pattern.

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