55 Financial Landscape and sometimes even utensils as collateral. Htay (electrician, Nay Pyi Taw) pawned some jewellery for a monthly interest rate of 3%. He bought the jewellery for MMK 80,000 ($80) and received MMK 50,000 ($50) from the pawn shop for it. He repaid the interest after 3 months. They either borrowed money to start their business or for their daily expenses as told by some of the MEs interviewed like Cho (Seed Seller, Bago) borrowed money from a money lender at 2% interest rate per month to start her business and Mima (ferry woman, Bago) borrowed MMK 50,000-60,000 ($50-60) from a Chinese money lender cum pawn shop owner at 4% interest rate per month to pay for the boat tender. Sometimes they had experienced taking loans from various sources to pay back the interest as was observed in case of Cherry (pigeon food seller, Yangon) who borrowed MMK 300,000 ($300) from her neighbour who was an informal money lender at 15% interest rate. She had to pay interest every month and to pay back this amount she had taken many other loans of MMK 10,000 ($10) and MMK 5,000 ($5) at an interest rate of 20% which she was paying daily. Recently she also borrowed some amount at 30% interest rate and paid MMK 2500 ($2.5) daily. In total she had a debt of MMK 600,000 ($600) from 4-5 people. Seasonality had a big influence on businesses observed in Myanmar and there were times when MEs could not earn much so they had to borrow money to pay for their daily expenses and for children’s school and tuition fee. Lily (coconut coir rope making, Mawlamying) borrowed MMK 40-50,000 ($ 40-50) without any interest from her relatives who stayed just opposite to her house and repaid after 6 months. “Being relatives, we can pay back after saving money, first we pay half of the debt and pay back the rest later.” Soe (potter, Bago) borrowed money from the money lender at a monthly interest rate of 20% to pay for his children’s tuition and school fees during the rainy season when his business was running losses. Cherry-Pigeon food seller in Yangon Some MEs interviewed also mentioned borrowing money to pay for their own treatment or for the treatment of their family members. Thida (laundry lady, Naypidaw) borrowed MMK 400,000 ($400) from a friend last year at 10% monthly interest rate to buy medicines when she was sick and was still paying her back. Straits Micro Finance