The very poor who participate in microfinance institutions and those who never have

There is general consensus that the very poor have not been adequately reached by existing microfinance institutions, but there is very little research evidence to support this. Using a dataset emerging from a new BRAC programme targeted at the very poor, those among the very poor who manage to participate in microfinance institutions are compared with those who never have. The article shows that the ultra poor who participate in MFIs are better off than those who never participated, and that they also borrow more from informal sources. The intensity of microcredit borrowing is lower among the very poor who participate in MFIs compared to MFI participants coming from other poverty groups.Given that reaching the very poor remains an important challenge for the global microfinance industry, a better understanding of the overall financial market participation of the very poor is important for guiding policy and practice.