Financial evaluation and efficiency of microfinance institutions: A cross-country analysis

Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) are special financial institutions, which have both a social nature and a for-profit nature. This differentiates them from the regular financial institutes, but still MFIs are interested about their profitability and efficiency. The main role of MFI is expanding economic opportunity and financial market to the poor, which is considered as effective solution in achieving poverty reduction and other socioeconomic benefits. But how can we assess if a MFI is efficient, how should we compare MFIs. The aim of the current study is the financial evaluation and efficiency of Microfinance Institutions with the use of Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA).