摘要：Microfinance institutions (MFIs) allow millions of households, usually excluded from the banking sector, to access financial services. Yet, in view of the ambitious policy objectives fixed for MFIs, three main issues need further clarification. First, recent studies show that the presumed impact of access to financial services on household income and welfare may not materialize if complementary hard and soft infrastructures are not in place. Second, most of the MFIs still have to demonstrate that they are able to operate without sub-sidies. Finally, governments and donors have consider-ably increased their financial support for the promotion of MFIs so as to rapidly increase the number of clients. But rapid growth of clientele and the massive injection of external funds endanger the building of sound MFIs as it may increase loan defaults and management risks. These issues raise several questions regarding the role of the state, namely, (1) the necessity of state-owned institutions, (2) the desirable level and nature of subsidi-zation of the MFIs, (3) the choice for the state between al-ternative investments in financial institutions or comple-mentary services, and (4) the necessary conditions for creating a favorable regulatory framework for microfinance
