Grameen microcredit and poverty alleviation: a review of Grameen Bank's performance on poverty alleviation in Bangladesh

This paper reviews empirical evidence on the common findings from the existing literature on Grameen Bank (GB) microcredit performance on the borrower’s poverty alleviation in Bangladesh. We first examine the GB microcredit impact on poverty alleviation with respect to its member’s income, consumption, health, children’s education and women empowerment. In general, most of the findings from the literature have shown that Bank members are doing well to reduce their vulnerability and to increase income and consumption, health improvement literacy of children and empowerment compared to non-members and controlled groups. However, this paper also examines some criticisms about the effective uses of microcredit rather than commercial mentality for profit making of microfinance institutions (MFIs).