Baseline survey of the integration of microfinance institutions in private credit bureaus Egypt and Pakistan

In its efforts to facilitate a more healthy and sustainable provision of financial services for micro entrepreneurs of Egypt and Pakistan, the International Finance Corporation (IFC) has undertaken two separate projects, looking for a full integration of microfinance practitioners into the credit reporting system of each country. As microfinance institutions1 (MFIs) in both countries are just at the beginning of the process of sharing credit information, an independent assessment was planned in order to measure the impact on micro lenders of such integration, using the methodology of Before and After, which consists of comparing two separate Snapshots taken at different times; one at the beginning (May, 2013), and another one, taken two or three years later. This paper comprises the results of the first snapshot.