The microfinance sector in Vietnam: An overview of its present state and future prospects

Abstract

The microfinance sector in Vietnam is appealing for study, due both to the type of institutions operating in it and its impressive growth rates. This article aims to explain the current situation of the sector as well as to point out the main obstacles that could slow down this growth. This is firstly done through an analysis of available published data. Given that these data provide a limited perspective of the actual situation, comprehensive field work was carried out based on surveys and in some cases direct interviews with the different agents operating in the Vietnamese microfinance sector. Special consideration was given to indicators associated with the possible introduction of innovations enabled by Information and Communications Technologies.