In late 2013, Myanmar’s Cooperatives Minister announced a dramatic expansion of the country’s portfolio of village-based financial institutions otherwise known as the cooperative credit system.
Funded partially by a $100 million loan from the Export-Import Bank of China, the declared intention is to extend cooperative credit institutions into each of Myanmar’s 60,000 villages.
Cooperatives in Myanmar have had troubles in the past. Established initially by the British colonial authorities to dilute the dominance of the Chettiar moneylenders, as well as to curry favor with the local populace, the first collapse occurred in the 1920s.