Profile of the Niger Credit Union Movement

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Date

1996-07

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Ohio State University. Department of Agricultural, Environmental, and Development Economics

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The West African country of Niger is among the poorest in the world with a population that is inadequately served by the formal financial system and a declining economy with an artificial financial deepening. The establishment of the credit unions movement could become the most important financial intermediary, especially in the rural areas of the country. The investigation of the performance of the CU movement has found the young movement to be healthy and rapidly growing as shown by PEARLS ratios, descriptive statistics, and econometric model results. Several elements remain at the core of the still growing movement and will affect its future growth. That include increase women participation, use of market rates of interest on loans, and using strictly members mobilized savings as loan sources instead of relying on external funds, generating larger loan portfolios by mobilizing more savings and increasing outstanding loans to savings ratios. These elements would prove crucial in determining the long term viability and sustainability of the CUs in Niger.

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