Over 60% women Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) entrepreneurs in Bangladesh do not get loans neither from the government nor the private loan providers, says a study of ILO, Bangladesh.

On the other hand, 88% SME women entrepreneurs expressed their dissatisfaction over the cumbersome loan application process that is a great barrier in the way of getting their desired loans, view specialists at ‘Dhaka summit on skill, employment and decent work 2016’ held at a city hotel yesterday.

During his presentation, Francis De Silva, senior specialist of ILO Bangladesh, stated that the average loan size for women-owned  SMEs is 47% less than the amount SMEs owned by men, and 36% of women reported gender-bias among financial institutions.