Sme Access To Financing

SME Access to Financing

Unlocking Access to Finance for SMEs: A Cross-Country Analysis

Countries in the MENAP and CCA regions have the lowest levels of financial inclusion of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the world. The paper provides empirical evidence on the drivers of SME access to finance for a large sample of countries, and identifies key policy priorities for these two regions: economic and institutional stability, competition, public sector size and government effectiveness, credit information infrastructure (e.g., credit registries), the business environment (e.g., legal frameworks for contract enforcement), and financial supervisory and regulatory capacity. The analysis also shows that improving credit information, economic competition, the business environment along with economic development and better governance would help close the SME financial inclusion gap between MENAP and CCA regions and the best performers. The paper concludes on the need to adopt holistic policy strategies that take into account the full range of macro and institutional requirements and reforms, and prioritize these reforms in accordance with each country’s specific characteristics.

Unlocking SME Finance in Asia

There is limited access for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to bank credit. This book proposes new and sustainable models to help ease the access of SMEs to finance and boost economic growth and job creation in Asia. This book looks at the difficulties of SMEs in accessing finance and suggests ways on how to mitigate these challenges. It suggests how we can develop credit information infrastructures for SMEs to remedy the asymmetric information problem and to utilize credit rating techniques for the development of a sustainable credit guarantee scheme. The book provides illustrations of various Asian economies that implemented credit guarantee schemes and credit risk databases and is a useful reference for lessons and policy recommendations.