Interest Rates in Savings Groups: Thrift or Threat?

• Published in: World development Vol. 101; pp. 162 - 172
• Main Authors: le Polain, Maïté, Sterck, Olivier, Nyssens, Marthe
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Elsevier Ltd 01.01.2018; Pergamon Press Inc
• Subjects: Accumulation; Attention; Capital formation; Debt; DR Congo; Fairness; Fieldwork; Financial inclusion; Innovations; Interest in microfinance; Interest rates; Microfinance; NGOs; Nongovernmental organizations; Norms; Perceptions; Risk; Rotating savings and credit associations; Savings; Savings banks; Savings groups; Security; South Kivu; Studies; Savings groups; Financial inclusion; Interest in microfinance; DR Congo; South Kivu; Rotating savings and credit associations

•Interest rates in savings groups aim at (1) encouraging capital accumulation, (2) allocating capital efficiently and (3) remunerating savings.•We identify three gaps between these objectives and SG members' perceptions and practices.•Gap 1: SG members turn their savings into loans to avoid the...