Colombia : Bank Financing to Small- and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) in Colombia

World Bank

Washington, DC

关键词: ABSENCE OF CREDIT;    ACCEPTABLE COLLATERAL;    ACCESS TO CREDIT;    ACCESS TO FINANCE;    ACCESS TO FINANCIAL SERVICES;   

RP-ID  :  41610

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

Small-and Medium-Sized Enterprises(SMEs) represent an important part of the Colombian economy,although they are not well documented in officialstatistics. In particular, there does not exist sufficientperiodic data as to their characteristics, evolution, oroverall contribution to the economy - in most cases, SMEstend to be bundled together with micro enterprises inofficial statistics. The true size of the market isunderstated due to informality. Lack of access to financehas been cited as an important problem in recent surveys.However, there are significant differences in perceptions asto the size and causes of the financing gap. While there isstrong evidence to support its existence following the 1999crisis, the significant growth of this market in recentyears raises some questions as to whether such perceptionsremain valid. One of the lessons of the last few years isthat banks will expand SME lending on their own accord - inspite of the presence of important constraints - when theyperceive the attractiveness of this market and have begun tosaturate easier (in terms of business model) market segmentssuch as corporate and consumer lending. However, in order toensure the sustainable growth of this market, continuedstrong macroeconomic performance and a stable and consistentpolicy framework in the financial sector have beenidentified as important considerations.