El Salvador

Economy:
A 12-year civil war, which cost 75,000 lives, ended in 1992. El Salvador has still not fully recovered from back-to-back earthquakes in 2001 that damaged about 20% of the nation's housing and a subsequent drought later in the year that destroyed 80% of its crops, and an intense two week period in 2005 when it suffered floods, landslides and a volcanic eruption. The country's current housing deficit is 630,000 homes, or 51% of the total population.

Nearly four million Salvadorans—57 percent of the population—are categorized as poor (living on less than $2 a day), with 2,114,000 of those considered extremely poor (living on less than a $1 a day). Income disparity is extremely high. The wealthiest ten percent of Salvadorans earn 39.3 percent of national income; the bottom ten percent earns just 1.4 percent. Services employ 65.8 percent of workers; agriculture and industry both employ 17.1% of workers. As much as one third of El Salvador's citizenry has migrated to other countries in search of better economic opportunities.

Climate for microfinance:
• El Salvador's formal banking sector has not responded to the efforts of the poor to create self-employment.
• FINCA's role is to provide financial support for the very smallest businesses, offering them small, manageable loans; the chance to borrow without traditional collateral; and the support they need to get their businesses off the ground.

FINCA El Salvador serves clients throughout all 14 of El Salvador‘s departmentos (states or provinces).

The typical client is a female entrepreneur with an average loan of $402