Recent global economic slowdown requires a new growth model for Asia, where small and medium enterprises play a greater role in boosting national productivity.
The Asia SME Finance Monitor 2014 is the knowledge sharing product on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Asia and the Pacific, specially focusing on SME access to finance. This publication reviews various country aspects of SME finance covering the banking sector, nonbank sector, and capital markets. It is expected to support evidence-based policy making and regulations on SME finance in the region.
Some of the report's highlights include the following:
- Recent global economic slowdown requires a new growth model for Asia, where SMEs play a key role in boosting national productivity;
- Strengthening SME competitiveness is a critical policy agenda, given the anticipated low SME survival rate and liberalized trade and investment;
- Financial infrastructure needs to be developed to expand financial outreach to a larger number of SMEs;
- Basel III may negatively affect bank lending attitudes to SMEs;
- The nonbank finance industry is small in scale and influenced by bank performance; comprehensive national policy frameworks are lacking;
- Although still in the trial stages, positive performances on SME equity markets and government reform efforts have been seen in Asia; and
- A balanced approach is required to design extensive policy measures for improving SME access to finance, and for safeguarding their financial stability.
