According to the latest data released by the Pakistan Microfinance Network (MFN), the third quarter of 2014 witnessed ‘steady growth in all key indicators’.
The value of savings increased marginally by 1.2% on a quarter-on-quarter basis. The insignificant increase in the value of savings was the result of a decline in the average saving balance that went down by 4.9% from Rs5,172 in April-June to Rs4,915 in July-September.
The increase in the number of savers was solely driven by the microfinance banks’ peer group, which added 483,000 new depositors, the MFN said. It translates into a quarter-on-quarter increase of 12%.
In contrast, growth in the value of deposits of the microfinance banks’ peer group was modest, as it grew by only 1%.
Tameer Bank was the largest contributor to the increase in the number of active savers followed by NRSP Bank. These institutions added 329,330 and 79,158 new depositors, respectively, in the July-September quarter. FINCA Microfinance Bank witnessed the greatest increase in the value of deposits by Rs516 million, surpassing NRSP Bank to become the fourth largest provider of micro-savings in terms of value.
Loan portfolio
The gross loan portfolio of the sector increased 7.7% to reach Rs65.9 billion at the end of the third quarter of 2014. Growth in microcredit came on the back of the microfinance banks’ peer group, which added 79,000 new borrowers and a portfolio of worth Rs2.5 billion, the MFN reported.
Resultantly, the market share in terms of active borrowers of the microfinance banks’ peer group grew from 39% to 41%. Khushhali Bank continued to drive the microcredit outreach among the microfinance banks and the sector as a whole.
The MFN reported that the share of male borrowers witnessed an increase of 3% in the last quarter. This was largely because of the increase achieved by Khushhali Bank, as more than 75% of its borrowers are male.
Moreover, the sector-wide portfolio at risk deteriorated from 1.2% to 1.9% in the preceding quarter.
The MFN says the market penetration rate increased slightly from 11.5% to 11.8 in the third quarter of 2014.
The number of districts covered remained the same, ie 94, over the two consecutive quarters. The number of branches went up by 71 during the quarter. It was because of an increase in the number of outlets by Akhuwat, which opened 40 new outlets mainly in Punjab.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 13th, 2014.
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