In last week’s article this column laid out the case that the current SME credit gap, estimated by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) to be at least US260 billion in the Mena region, could not be closed using currently available tools and institutions.There is an argument to be made that the potential exists to close the gap as the SME sector’s contribution to the UAE’s GDP is in excess of 50 per cent and its share of total loans is only 4 per cent, thus implying that the massive supply-demand imbalance has driven loan pricing to extremely attractive levels relative to risk. It is important to note here that it does not matter what the risk is as long as the return more than compensates for it.<img src="/apps/Sc.dll/AB/NoJS/NoJS/story/20141020/OPINION/141029922?nojs=1" width="1px" height="1px">