13 The Good, the Bad, and the Poor
Chapter 12 Collapse, Suicide, and Muhammad Yunus
1. Elyssa Pachico, “‘No Pago’ Confronts Microfinance in Nicaragua,” NACLA.org, October 28, 2009, https://nacla.org/node/6180.
2. David Roodman, “Death of a Microfinance Institution,” Center for Global
Development, David Roodman’s Microfinance Open Book Blog, August 9, 2010, http://blogs.cgdev.org/open_book/2010/08/death-of-a-microfinance-
institution.php.
3. See “6 Microfinance Crises That the Sector Does Not Want to Remember,”
Microfinance Focus, April 22, 2011, at www.microfinancefocus.com/6- microfinance-crises-sector-does-not-want-remember.
4. See (in Spanish)
http://tertuliapolitica.bligoo.com/content/view/1134653/CRONOLOGIA-DEL- MOVIMIENTO-DEL-NORTE.html.
5. Elizabeth Minchew, “A Movement to Acknowledge: The Nicaraguan Movimiento No Pago,” Microfinance Focus, September 14, 2011,
www.microfinancefocus.com/movement-acknowledge-nicaraguan- movimientono-pago.
6. Ibid.
7. Center for Financial Inclusion, “Nicaragua’s Microfinance Crisis: Looking Back, What Did We Learn?” Microfinance Gateway, January 26, 2011,
www.microfinancegateway.org/p/site/m/template.rc/1.1.9463/.
8. Scan of article on book website.
9. Iván Olivares, “Millones en Riesgo por ‘Ley de No Pago,’” Confidencial, March 8, 2010.
10. Rohan Trivedi, “Microcapital Brief,” MicroCapital.org, September 2, 2011, www.microcapital.org/microcapital-brief-incofin-lends-9m-to-microfinance- institutions-mfis-pride-tanzania-lapo-of-nigeria-sinapi-aba-trust-fasl-of-ghana/.
11. Matthew Fuchs, “Lessons Learned from Microfinance Crises: Viewpoints from Investors,” at Microfinance Focus, November 4, 2009,
www.smartcampaign.org/news-a-highlights/in-the-news/7-2009/76-lessons- learned-from-microfinance-crises-viewpoints-from-investors.
12. International Association of Microfinance Investors, “Charting the Course: Best Practices and Tools for Voluntary Debt Restructurings in Microfinance” (New York: IAMFI, 2009), available at
www.morganstanley.com/globalcitizen/pdf/IAMFI.pdf.
13. Patricia Padilla, “The Micro-Financing Institutions Are Politically Very Attractive,”
Envio Digital, August 2008, www.envio.org.ni/articulo/3856.
14. Milford Bateman and Ha-Joon Chang, “The Microfinance Illusion” (March 2009), p. 12, available at www.hajoonchang.net/downloads/pdf/Microfinance.pdf.
15. Sanjay Vijay Kumar, “Microfinance Industry in India to Cross 11 Crore by 2014:
Microfinance & Business India Digest,” Microfinance Africa, June 14, 2010, at http://microfinanceafrica.net/microfinance-around-the-world/microfinance-
industry-in-india-to-cross-11-crore-by-2014-microfinance-business-india-digest/.
16. Ketaki Gotkhale, “As Microfinance Grows in India, So Do Its Rivals,” Wall Street Journal, December 15, 2009,
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB126055117322287513.html.
17. Ketaki Gokhale, “Group Borrowing Leads to Pressure,” Wall Street Journal, August 13, 2009, http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125008232217325553.html.
18. Vikram Akula, reprinted in Welcome to Paradox Valley blog, August 22, 2009, http://paradoxvalley.blogspot.com/2009/08/vikram-akulas-response-to-wsjs- article.html.
19. “SKS Microfinance Ranked No. 1 MFI in India by Mix Mkt,” moneycontrol.com, January 2, 2009, available at www.moneycontrol.com/news/business/sks-
microfinance-ranked-no-1-mfiindia-by-mix-mkt_373595.html.
20. Ramesh S. Arunachalam, The Journey of Indian Micro-Finance: Lessons for the Future (Chennai: Aapti Publications, 2011), pp. 93–94.
21. Shashi Tharoor, “The Crisis of Microfinance,” Aljazeera, March 11, 2011, http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2011/03/20113911
535158522.html.
22. “Agents Kidnap Girl to Punish Mother for Loan Default, Times of India, October 13, 2010.
23. “SKS and the Crisis of Corporate-Led Microfinance in India,” Pragoti, February 2, 2010, www.pragoti.in/node/4202.
24. “54 Committed Suicide in AP Due to Microfinance Debts, Says SERP: Report,”
International Business Times, October 29, 2010,
www.ibtimes.com/articles/77043/20101029/microfinance-deaths-sks-microfinance- spandana-asmitha-share-l-t-andhra-suicides-india-microfinance-d.htm.
25. “Exclusive: 54 Microfinance-Related Suicides in AP, Says SERP Report,”
Microfinance Focus, October 25, 2010,
www.microfinancefocus.com/content/exclusive-54-microfinance-related-suicides- ap-says-serp-report.
26. Erika Kinetz, “Suicides Spark Scrutiny of Indian Microfinance,” Bloomberg Businessweek, October 19, 2010.
27. Sebastian Strangio, “Is Microfinance Pushing the World’s Poorest Even Deeper Into Poverty?” The New Republic, December 14, 2011.
28. Jinka Nagaraju, “MFI Agents ‘Forcing’ Debtors to Commit Suicide: Study,” Times of India, October 20, 2010.
29. “Is the Mexican Microfinance Sector Approaching Crisis Point?” Microfinance Focus, July 17, 2011.
30. Milford Bateman, Why Doesn’t Microfinance Work?: The Destructive Rise of Local Neoliberalism (London: Zed, 2010).
31. “Grameen Foundation Complains to NRK,” Flip the Coin, February 22, 2011,
www.flipthecoin.org/?p=380.
32. Ministry of Foreign Affairs: “Norad’s report shows that Grameen Bank transferred a total of NOK 608.5 million to its sister company Grameen Kalyan in 1996.
Norway’s share of this amount is estimated to be approximately NOK 170 million.
The Norwegian Embassy in Dhaka reacted immediately when it discovered the transfer in 1997. In the embassy’s view, the transfer was not in accordance with the agreement. The matter was raised with Grameen Bank. Following negotiations, it was agreed in May 1998 that NOK 170 million was to be transferred back from Grameen Kalyan to Grameen Bank,”
www.regjeringen.no/en/dep/ud/press/news/2010/report_grameen.html?id=627366.
33. David Roodman, “U.S. Government Pressure on Behalf of Yunus,” Center for Global Development, David Roodman’s Microfinance Open Book Blog, February 28, 2011, http://blogs.cgdev.org/open_book/2011/02/u-s-government-pressure-on- behalf-of-yunus.php.
34. No author stated: www.friendsofgrameen.com/dl/2011/02/Friends of Grameen, Grameen-Bank-Fact-Sheet-FINAL.pdf.
35. See Norad, “Review Commissioned by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Matters Relating to Grameen Bank,” December 6, 2012,
www.regjeringen.no/upload/UD/Vedlegg/Utvikling/Grameen_Bank_
main_report_eng.pdf.
36. See also the Wikipedia entry on the subject, which states, “NORAD published an official statement clearing Yunus and Grameen Bank from any wrongdoing.” This is open to interpretation on the exact meaning of the word clearing, but the truth appears slightly less clear-cut than the mainstream media cares to present. See the section “Disproved allegations from a Danish documentary,”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad_Yunus.
37. Grameen Bank Fact Sheet, third paragraph, p. 1.
38. The site, www.friendsofgrameen.com, was recently removed and then restored.
Original documents available on book website.
39. Roodman, “Does Compartamos Charge 195% Interest?”
40. “Yoghurt Adulteration: Yunus Lands in Court,” Rediff Business, January 28, 2011, www.rediff.com/business/report/yoghurt-adulteration-yunus-lands-
incourt/20110128.htm.
41. David Roodman, “The Persecution of an Imperfect Man,” Center for Global
Development, David Roodman’s Microfinance Open Book Blog, January 29, 2011, http://blogs.cgdev.org/open_book/2011/01/the-persecution-of-an-imperfect-
man.php.
42. “Yunus Criticizes Profiteering in Nigerian Microfinance,” micro DINERO, September 7, 2011, at www.microdinero.com/nota_eng.php?
subseccion=D1¬Id=4030.
43. $70,000,000,000 × 45% ÷ (60 × 60 × 24 × 365) = $998.86.
44. See http://givewell.org/international/technical/programs/immunization.