The Nigerian Microfinance sub-sector is yet to attain the desired level of global best practice. This paper thus investigates the performance and productivity changes of MFBs in South-West Nigeria, from 2006 to 2010, having had the Microfinance Policy launched in 2005. The study revealed that only 16.28% of the sampled MFBs met the recommended maximum PAR value of 5% in 2006 and that was the highest throughout the sample period. It was also revealed that 31.14% of the sampled MFBs reported a debt/equity ratio of above the recommended value of 2 in 2006, while 32.56% had gearing of over 2 in 2010. The MFBs experienced fluctuating performances in their productivity changes, with pure technical efficiency improvements in 2007 and 2009. However, the MFBs suffered technological decline throughout the study period. Overall, the MFBs experienced Total Factor Productivity improvement in 2007, while there were productivity deteriorations in 2008, 2009 and 2010.
An investigation on the effect of technology on total factor productivity improvement of insurance firms
