
SME access to financing remains more limited in Africa than elsewhere in the world. Continue Reading

Donors must not simply focus on adopting strategies based on providing financing, they must also focus on demand. One of the reasons why it is difficult for SMEs to access […]Continue Reading

SME financing cannot be enhanced simply by scaling up volumes of financing. SMEs need to upgrade so that they can meet the eligibility criteria of bankers and other investors. I&P […]Continue Reading

Firms and banks alike would seem to be responsible for the lack of SME financing in SSA: firms because of their shortfalls in meeting the classic requirements of the banking […]Continue Reading

SMEs may account for the bulk of firms and employment in SSA, yet they contribute very little to GDP. This is partly due to the financing constraints they meet. However, […]Continue Reading

The acuteness of information asymmetries between bankers and entrepreneurs, which cannot be offset by adequate loan securitization, constitutes one of the main stumbling blocks to SME financing in SSA. The […]Continue Reading

Despite signs of progress, SSA is still lagging compared to other regions when it comes to scaling up the volume of loans allocated to the private sector. If it is […]Continue Reading

Using bank survey data, this article compares the scale and type of bank lending to SMEs in Africa to that available outside the region. The data shows that bank financing […]Continue Reading

African banks had just started to show interest in SMEs when the global crisis reversed the tide. The risk for SMEs is that they will suddenly be barred access to […]Continue Reading