ABSTRACT
Donors are not all alike; some are hardly distinguishable from commercial investors in their insistence on rapid and full financial self-sufficiency, and some have a distinctly social agenda. The dividing line between investments and subsidies is not so clear. Practically all public investments contain elements of subsidies, for example credit lines provided at below market interest rates. These interest rebates range from 1% to 10% below the going market rate, so they can represent a substantial cost advantage to the MFI. Equity investments can also contain subsidy elements to the extent that they may voluntarily forego “normal” shareholder rights, like board representation or dividends.
