Muhammad Yunus in March 2011

The former head of Bangladesh's Grameen Bank, Mohammad Yunus, has told the BBC his original model of micro-finance, which was intended to relieve poverty by making tiny loans, has been 'misused and abused' by some lenders. This report is from Lesley Curwen:

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He said the prime minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina, had been 'badly advised' when she accused his bank of 'sucking blood' from the poor.

Asked about a micro-finance crisis in India, where there were allegations of exorbitant interest rates and threatening tactics by lenders, he said commercial organisations which had entered the micro-credit business had 'lost track.'

Muhammad Yunus:

"The idea of micro-credit was misused. Idea of micro-credit was abused. So when micro-credit focussed on the social issues turned into money-making issues, that was a mission drift completely."

Professor Yunus denied suggestions that the broader concept of micro-credit had failed. He suggested that a separate banking system should be created for the poor, while profit-making companies in the sector should be not be allowed to call themselves micro-credit lenders.

Lesley Curwen, BBC News

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no stranger to controversy
has often found himself in situations where there has been disagreement and conflict

a letter of resignation
a formal written notification in which you say that you are leaving your job

forced out
made to feel that he had no choice and he had to leave his job, even though he didn't want to

non-profit-making institution
an organisation which provides a service and doesn't plan to make more money than it spends

exorbitant
extremely high

threatening tactics
suggesting that there will be very bad consequences if payments aren't made, for example physical violence

lost track
were not following the original plan for micro-finance

a mission drift
a gradual change in a project's priorities so that it becomes completely different from what was planned at the beginning

the broader concept of
the original idea behind

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