Private commercial banks, including government financial institutions, are in a scramble to service the microfinance sector and low-income households.
The nation's population now stands at around 76.5 million. Of this total, 70 per cent belong in the poorest group, of which 40 per cent, or 21.4 million, rely on entrepreneurial activities as their main source of income.
Mario B. Lamberte of the Philippine Institute for Development Studies said that there is no accurate information on the number of micro-enterprises in the country because many of them are not registered with appropriate government agencies.
Nevertheless, commercial banks that only cater to the large borrowers have considered formulating innovative lending programmes to address the credit requirements of small borrowers.
