A Government Monopoly on Finance Loosens

Expert Name: 
Time Period: 
Winners and Losers
Video Info
Video URL: 
http://media.asiasociety.org/video/chinaboom/MY-AGovernmentMonopoly.mp4
Video Still: 
Homepage Thumbnail: 
Homepage Rollover: 
Video Thumbnail: 
Quote: 

Microfinance in China is very underdeveloped...compared to Bangladesh, we are very backwards.

Home Page
Show Quote on Homepage: 
No
Flagged As Main Period Video: 
NO
Video Transcript: 
<p>Microfinance in China is very underdeveloped for the moment. Compared to Bangladesh, we are very backwards. Financial services for farmers are very poor because the official financial institutions hoard their savings and do not grant any loans. In other words, the money from the farmers is used to build skyscrapers in the cities, or the Three Gorges Dam, therefore, the countryside is very poor. Their money has been taken from them. The absence of microfinance in China is due to the Chinese government's monopoly on finance. Unlike in the US, where thousands of banks are run by individuals, in China, not only in the countryside, but also in the cities, individuals are not allowed to do business in finance. All of the banks in China are run by the government. Individuals are not allowed to open a bank. Though I have done microfinance in the countryside for 16 years, it remains an illegal business. It is still an illegal business unit which is not under the protection of government law. It is actually an underground organization. Luckily, the government didn't regulate me. If they did, I could have been sent to the prison because it is an illegal business. There have, however, been some changes. The government is starting to allow private funds to provide financial services to businesses in the countryside. Even though it is a very tiny opening, there has been a capital inflow of 100 billion RMB to the Chinese countryside. This is a very important development in the reform of China's financial sector.</p>
Location
Map: 
Not Mapped
description: 

Mao Yushi talks about the development of microfinance in China. Because Chinese law prohibits private citizens from providing financial services, microfinance is an illegal practice and the countryside does not receive adequate financing. But Mao Yushi mentions that recent reforms by the government, however small, are leading to change.