The main purpose of this study was to estimate the net number of microcredit client
households in Bangladesh that crossed the US$1.25 a day threshold between 1990 and
2008.1

It is important to note that the findings in this report were significantly influenced by the
period in which the data was collected. In 1998 Bangladesh suffered from what are often
described as the most severe floods ever to hit the country. In 2008, a food crisis coupled
with political instability in Bangladesh and the global economic crisis led to a general
slack in economic activities. All these factors may have led to the depletion of assets that
are commonly chosen as proxies to measure poverty status among the very poor in
Bangladesh. This in turn may have led to under-estimation of the number of microcredit
client households that may have otherwise crossed the threshold.