Industry Event: Speaking Role
Launch of the OECD Financing SMEs and Scoreboard: 2025 Highlights
02 April 2025
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9 : 30
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Virtual via Zoom
Unlocking SME Finance for Resilience and Competitiveness
Launch of the OECD Financing SMEs and Scoreboard: 2025 Highlights
SMEs and entrepreneurs are at an important crossroads. In recent years they have faced a series of challenges, from pandemic shutdowns to high inflation and historically rapid increases in interest rates. In 2023 alone, the cost of credit for SMEs rose by 6%, and bank lending to SMEs fell by 9%, a drop not seen since the Great Financial Crisis. While some of these pressures have begun to abate, financing conditions remain relatively tight, and uncertainty about the future business and financing environment remains high. On the other hand, technological advancements and AI have the potential to ease SME access to finance but are not without challenges of their own. All these developments have important implications for SME competitiveness and resilience, including investments in the twin transition, and for the role governments, financial institutions and other actors can play in meeting SME financing needs.
This webinar will bring together policy makers, financial institutions, SME representatives and others in an interactive setting. It will feature a presentation of the new 2025 Highlights of the OECD SME and Entrepreneurship Financing Scoreboard.
Qamar Saleem, Global Head, of SME Finance Forum, Managed by the IFC (International Finance Corporation), will share his invaluable experiences and insights.
Join us to discuss these questions and more
- How are SMEs navigating the rapidly evolving and turbulent landscape? What are their main capital needs to achieve competitiveness in a moment of systemic uncertainty?
- How can policymakers navigate the current economic environment and different emerging priorities to enable SMEs to expand their range of financing instruments beyond traditional debt finance? How can they bolster SME investments in critical areas like sustainability, digitalisation and skills?
- What are the main opportunities and risks of emerging technologies for SME access to finance?
