This is the VOA Special English Economics Report.
这里是美国之音慢速英语经济报道。
Microfinance is a fast-growing part of the financial industry in many developing countries. Micro lenders give small loans to poor people to start or expand businesses.
小额信贷是很多发展中国家金融行业成长最快的一部分。小额信贷机构将小额贷款贷给穷人，用于开展或扩大其生意。
Microcredit offers a chance to improve lives and reduce poverty. But officials in Andhra Pradesh, in southern India, are investigating if debt collections are linked to a series of suicides among borrowers.
小额信贷提供了改善生活，摆脱贫困的机会。但印度南部安得拉邦（Andhra Pradesh）官方正在调查借款人中的一系列自杀事件是否和信贷催收有关。
Reddi Subrahmanyam is a rural development official in that state.
Reddi Subrahmanyam是该地区一名农村发展事务方面的官员。
REDDI SUBRAHMANYAM: "The feeling in the community is that many of these deaths have occurred immediately after the recovery agents of the microfinance institutions have either visited the house or have done something insulting."
Subrahmanyam：“各界的感觉就是，在小额信贷机构的信贷回收代理人造访借款人，或对借款人做出一些咄咄逼人的举动后，立即发生了许多自杀死亡事件。”
Reports of corruption and abuses have led to emergency measures in Andhra Pradesh to ban some collection methods. These rules also aim to limit costly fees and high interest rates on loans.
违规信贷报告使安得拉邦采取紧急措施，以禁止一些催收贷款的方式。该措施还意图限制贷款高额手续费和高额利率。
The Asian Development Bank says microfinance institutions in the Asia-Pacific area charge interest of thirty to seventy percent a year. Charges can be even higher when other costs are added.
亚洲开发银行（Asian Development Bank）表示，亚太地区的小额信贷机构收取的年利率在30%到70%之间。加上其他的费用，贷款的成本会更高。
But micro lenders also face higher operating costs compared to traditional lenders. Groups like the Asian Development Bank oppose limits on interest rates because of these high business costs.
但和传统信贷机构相比，小额信贷机构也要面临更高的运营费用。由于这些高昂的商业成本，象亚洲开发银行等机构都反对限制利率。
Economist Muhammad Yunus won the Nobel Peace Prize in two thousand six for his work with microfinance. In the nineteen seventies he started what became the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh.
经济学家穆罕默德·尤纳斯（Muhammad Yunus）因为在小额信贷方面的杰出贡献，于2006年获得了诺贝尔奖。20世纪70年代，他创办了孟加拉乡村银行（Grameen Bank，又译作格莱珉银行）。
Grameen says it charges twenty percent for general loans, less for home and student loans. The poorest of the poor pay no interest.
乡村银行表示，该行对普通贷款施行20%的利率，住房贷款和助学贷款利率相对更低。极度贫穷者零利率。
But enough microfinance borrowers are paying enough for their loans to create a profitable business.
但乡村银行足够多的小额借款人足额还款，创造了丰厚利润。
MFTransparency is an organization that works with microfinance lenders to make pricing policies more clear. The group is based in the United States.
MFTransparency是一家与小额信贷机构共同致力于让信贷价格政策更透明的组织。该组织总部位于美国。
Chief executive Chuck Waterfield says easy credit can lead some people to borrow more than they can repay. He says abuses affect only a small percentage of India's fifty million microfinance borrowers.
行政长官Chuck Waterfield表示，宽松的信贷政策使一些人的借款超过他们的偿付能力。但他表示，违规信贷只会影响到印度5000万小额借款人的一小撮。
One of the clients of MFTransparency is the Microfinance Institutions Network. That group is fighting the new rules in Andhra Pradesh.
小额信贷机构协会（Microfinance Institutions Network）是MFTransparency的一个客户，该协会正就安得拉邦的新规定进行抗争。
India's biggest microfinance company is SKS Microfinance. In its last budget year it reported profits of eighteen percent. SKS began selling stock on the Bombay Stock Exchange in August.
印度最大的小额信贷公司是SKS。上个财年其公布的利润是18%。今年8月，SKS在孟买股票交易所上市。
New York University economist Jonathan Morduch says the microcredit industry is young and there are problems. But he says too much regulation could kill it.
纽约大学经济学家Jonathan Morduch表示，小额信贷行业尚不成熟，仍然存在一些问题。但他表示，过多监管将会扼杀小额信贷行业。