CHINA Country Overview August 2008 13 rue Dieumegard 93 400 Saint-Ouen Paris - France Tel 33 (0) 1 49 21 26 26 Fax 33 (0) 1 49 21 26 27 Email
[email protected] 1. Executive Summary 3 2. Country brief 4 SUMMARY 4 INDICATORS ON NATIONAL ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT 5 2. Financial Sector 8 GENERAL FINANCIAL SECTOR OUTREACH 8 FINANCIAL SERVICES PROVIDERS 8 MICROFINANCE SERVICES PROVIDERS 11 FINANCIAL SECTOR’S BACKERS AND MARKET FACILITATORS 15 3. Notes on the Insurance industry 16 INSURANCE PROVIDERS 16 MICROINSURANCE 16 4. Investment conditions & regulations 17 INVESTMENT PROCESS 18 Appendix 1 – Country MFI list 20 Appendix 2 – Investors and Donors in China Microfinance 27 Appendix 3 - Rules and regulations 28 Appendix 4 - Contacts and extra information 34 www.planetfinance.org 2 1. Executive Summary z The Chinese government has lifted approximately 400 million people out of poverty in the past 25 years through encouragement of economic development. In the first 25-year phase of development, these efforts were mainly directed at Eastern and Southern China. z The income gap has been widening as wealth grows in selected areas. As the seaboard areas accumulate ever greater wealth, China’s poor are becoming more concentrated in the west, in regions which have been traditionally difficult to access. However, as costs of operation rise on the seaboard, entrepreneurs are beginning to look to Western and Central China to invest where costs are lower, taking advantage of transport and communications infrastructure laid down in the past five years. z At least 228 million rural inhabitants are unable to obtain financial services, and the challenge of addressing this problem is firmly on the agenda of the national “San Nong” program to improve agricultural practices, the lives of the farmers, and the quality of life in the village.