Financing Small and Medium Enterprises in the Republic of South Africa

Fuchs, Michael ; Iacovone, Leonardo ; Jaeggi, Thomas ; Napier, Mark ; Pearson, Roland ; Pellegrini, Giulia ; Villegas Sanchez, Carolina

World Bank, Washington, DC

关键词: ACCESS TO BANK;    ACCESS TO CREDIT;    ACCESS TO FINANCE;    ACCESS TO FINANCIAL SERVICES;    ACCOUNT MANAGEMENT;   

RP-ID  :  70433

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

Numerous studies worldwide havehighlighted the important contribution made by small andmedium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to employment, income andeconomic growth. In a study of 76 developed and developingeconomies, Ayyagari and others (2007) found that SMEsaccount for more than 60 percent of total manufacturingemployment and that SMEs contributed significant proportionsof Gross Domestic Product (GDP). SME growth requiresexternal financing, but constraints to accessing credit,consistently rated as some of the greatest barriers to theoperation and growth of firms, affect SMEs more severelythan large firms (Beck and Demirguc-Kunt 2006; Beck andothers 2006). The purposes of this report are to: a) analyzethe availability of bank finance to SMEs in South Africa andhow availability might be enhanced in the context of theeconomic downturn; and b) offer concrete policyrecommendations on how to lessen obstacles to bank SMEfinancing and reduce the negative effects of the economicdownturn (or of a similar downturn in future) on access tofinance. The report is structured in 5 sections: section twoprovides a short overview of existing studies and data onSME finance in South Africa. Section three presents the mainresults of the surveys. Section four provides policyconsiderations. Section five concludes.