For poor people: Loans, insurance, savings | Bangkok Post: learning

About poverty

For the many poor people not able to use banks, Japan funds a program to provide them these essential services.

Photo above a somtam vendor transports her goods by boat during the Bangkok floods. The Japan-funded project described in today's article is aimed at helping low-income people such as this.

For additional reading, see: Kingdom of Thailand: Development of a Strategic Framework for Financial Inclusion (December 2011) (here)

Click button to listen to Low-Income Loans to download

CREDIT: Japanese fund gives $1.5m to help the poor access loans by Parista Yuthamanop

The Fiscal Policy Office (FPO) received a US$1.5-million grant from the Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction to strengthen its efforts to create a framework to help low-income earners excluded by the banking system.

The grant is administered by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), which will assist the FPO with its study identifying the gap in financial services among the low-income and formulating a strategic framework to help them.

Craig Steffenson, the ADB's Thailand director, said the study will complement previous work conducted by various local agencies, as the bank sees the issue as a structural problem in the country.

Although a large share of the population has access to financial services, the ADB found those families among the bottom 40% of households by income have access to a more limited and lower-quality range of financial services than those earning more.

For instance, 38% of low-income families use one or two types of financial services, while 16% do not use any.

Almost 80% of middle- to high-income families use three or more types of financial services.

Likewise, almost half of low-income households do not borrow compared with 27% of middle- to high-income households.

And 28% of low-income households do not have access to savings products compared with 6% from middle- and high-income groups.

FPO director Somchai Sujjapongse said his agency's study will seek to identify supply and demand for financial products among the low income in order to introduce micro-finance products such as micro-credit, micro-insurance and pensions.

The FPO expects to help one-tenth of the projected 6.5 million who lack financial access to secure it within three years, he said.

Dr Somchai said that Thailand is 54th in ADB's rankings in terms of financial inclusion.

The study is expected to strengthen the Finance Ministry's ongoing work to strengthen the financial knowledge of the low income on resolving debt, financing their ventures and investing their earnings.

(Source: Bangkok Post, CREDIT, Japanese fund gives $1.5m to help the poor access loans, 31/01/2012, Parista Yuthamanop, link) 

Microfinance Vocabulary

Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction - a fund created in 2000 to "provide grants for projects supporting poverty reduction and related social development activities that can add value to projects financed by ADB... priority is placed on the poorest and most  vulnerable groups ... primarily on innovative programs designed or implemented by local communities or NGOs which contribute to the achievement of Millennium Development Goals especially in health and education" (See website)

credit - 1. loans; money that you owe someone (a bill that grows until you pay it off at the end of the month, for example); 2. the total amount of loans in an economy เครดิต เงินกู้ทั้งหมด

finance - to provide money for something; borrow money to pay for something จัดหาเงินทุนให้ (money to expand a business, project funding) (See Wikipedia)
financial (adjective)

micro-finance - providing financial services such as loans to low-income people, families and businesses who lack access to banks (See Wikipedia)

micro-credit - providing very small loans (microloans) to poor borrowers "who do not have collateral, steady employment and a verifiable credit history. It is designed to spur entrepreneurship, increase incomes, alleviate poverty and often also to empower women. Microcredit is a part of microfinance, which is the provision of a wider range of financial services, in particular savings, to the poor. Microcredit is generally considered to have originated with the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh" (See Wikipedia)

financial services - all the services that banks traditionally offer (loans, credit cards, pensions, investment and savings accounts to save money for future needs, also services such as insurance) (See Wikipedia)
access to financial services

insurance - a system of protection against loss, a person pays money every month (premiums) for a guarantee that the company will pay them money if they or their property is damaged or lost (See Wikipedia) การประกันภัย

micro-insurance - special insurance for low-income people and businesses not served by typical commercial insurance schemes, with low premiums and low or coverage limits (See Wikipedia)

pension - a system for saving money for when a person ends their work life when they get old (retirement) (See Wikipedia) บำนาญ, เบี้ยบำนาญ, เงินบำนาญ,

income - money that people receive from work or some other source, used for household consumption and savings
low-income earners - poor people without money or material possessions (assets), savings, without basic human needs such as clean and fresh water, nutrition, health care, education, clothing and a place to live (shelter) (See Wikipedia)

access - the right or opportunity to have or use something ได้รับสิทธิ์หรือโอกาสในการใช้
access loans - be able to get loans when you need them
help the poor access loans

excluded - not included
low-income earners excluded by the banking system

fund - money provided for some use or purpose เงินทุน กองทุน
Japanese fund gives $1.5m to help the poor access loans

grant - an amount of money given by the government or some organization to pay for some project (a "grant" does not need to be paid back like a "loan")
administer grant - provide the money of the grant at the times and amounts agreed upon and check to make sure conditions are met 

efforts - the work done towards achieving some goal; people trying to accomplish something, achieve a goal ความพยายาม
strengthen efforts - make work towards achieving achieve those goals more easily (make work more effective)

the Fiscal Policy Office (FPO) received a US$1.5-million grant from the Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction to strengthen its efforts to create a framework to help low-income earners excluded by the banking system

identifying - can name the person, know who the person is ระบุชื่อ
gap - a large difference between people or groups ช่องว่าง

the gap in financial services among the low-income

formulating - carefully develop a plan, system or proposal (considering all the details)
strategic - done with a special plan to achieve long term goals
framework - a system of rules, ideas or beliefs that is used to plan or decide something; deal with problems and make decisions ขอบข่ายงาน, โครงร่าง
formulating a strategic framework

study identifying the gap in financial services among the low-income and formulating a strategic framework to help them.

the grant is administered by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), which will assist the FPO with its study identifying the gap in financial services among the low-income and formulating a strategic framework to help them

local - in this country (here: Thailand)
local agencies - government agencies (and perhaps NGOs) 

issue - a problem that needs to be considered; a subject that people discuss or argue about ประเด็น

structural problem -  a problem in the structure of the economy (so must change the way the economy works to solve the problem), problems "that are not merely due to the normal business cycle, but are the result of more fundamental changes, some of which may be social or political. Structural problems are typically caused by a combination of the following: long term effects of technological change, unfavorable demographic changes, resource depletion, unwise government action and market saturation. These issues sometimes cause long lasting periods of slow economic growth and high unemployment. The condition has been called economic stagnation or simply stagnation" (See Wikipedia)

a structural problem in the country

complement - combine well with something else when added to it (providing useful but different features or qualities)
the study will complement previous work conducted by various local agencies, as the bank sees the issue as a structural problem in the country.

population - the group of people who live in one country, area or place กลุ่มที่อาศัยอยู่ในบริเวณหนึ่ง
a large share of the population

households - families or groups of people living together (economics treats this as a unit that makes decisions)
range - a number of different things that are of the same general type ขอบข่าย, ประเภท
a more limited and lower-quality range of financial services

although a large share of the population has access to financial services, the ADB found those families among the bottom 40% of households by income have access to a more limited and lower-quality range of financial services than those earning more.

identify - to find, locate and give a name; specify ระบุ ระบุชื่อ
demand - people or consumers wanting to buy goods and services ความต้องการ

supply and demand - the most important key set of ideas in economics about how prices for a good are determined: "an economic model of price determination in a market. It concludes that in a competitive market, the unit price for a particular good will vary until it settles at a point where the quantity demanded by consumers (at current price) will equal the quantity supplied by producers (at current price), resulting in an economic equilibrium of price and quantity. The four basic laws of supply and demand are: If demand increases and supply remains unchanged, then it leads to higher equilibrium price and quantity; 2. If demand decreases and supply remains unchanged, then it leads to lower equilibrium price and quantity; 3. If supply increases and demand remains unchanged, then it leads to lower equilibrium price and higher quantity; 4. If supply decreases and demand remains unchanged, then it leads to higher price and lower quantity" (See Wikipedia)

supply and demand for financial products

the agency's study will seek to identify supply and demand for financial products among the low income in order to introduce micro-finance products such as micro-credit, micro-insurance and pensions.

projected - expected, forecast: what people believe it will be in the future
lack - does not have ขาดแคลน
secure - to get or achieve something การได้มาซึ่ง to get or achieve something important เพื่อเป็นประกันว่า to get or achieve something ได้รับ, ทำให้ได้ผล
The FPO expects to help one-tenth of the projected 6.5 million who lack financial access to secure it within three years, he said.

rankings - a list with the best first and the worst last
in terms of - measured by
inclusion - being included in a group
financial inclusion - being included in the the group of people who can use financial services, keep money in a bank, save in a pension plan, get bank loans when needed, have access to financial services, etc (See reports from two seminars: #1 and #2 and special Thailand report)

Thailand is 54th in ADB's rankings in terms of financial inclusion

expected - believe will happen คาดว่า (จะเกิดขึ้น)

ongoing - currently happening right now (has not finished yet) อย่างต่อเนื่อง
ongoing work - work that people are doing now
strengthen ongoing work - make work more valuable, productive and efficient (better able to achieve its goals)

debt - an amount of money that you owe หนี้
resolving debt - ending debt (by paying back the money you owe or making some agreement to reduce the debt with the lender) 
ventures - businesses
financing ventures - finding money to pay for the creation and running of a business
investing earnings - taking the money you earn from a business and putting it in new businesses or stocks, bank accounts, etc to earn more money with it

the study is expected to strengthen the Finance Ministry's ongoing work to strengthen the financial knowledge of the low income on resolving debt, financing their ventures and investing their earnings.

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