Improving SME Access to Trade Credit and Financing in MENA

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Middle East and North Africa (MENA), especially female entrepreneurs, face steep challenges in accessing finance and credit. This situation is now even more dire with the Covid-19 crisis. SMEs finance their ac...

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Main Authors: Dornel, Arnaud, Ait Ali Slimane, Meriem, Mohindra, Komal
Format: Brief
Language:English
Published: World Bank, Washington, DC 2020
Subjects:
Online Access:http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/446661606972783139/Improving-SME-Access-to-Trade-Credit-and-Financing-in-MENA
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/34898
id okr-10986-34898
recordtype oai_dc
spelling okr-10986-348982021-04-23T14:02:11Z Improving SME Access to Trade Credit and Financing in MENA Dornel, Arnaud Ait Ali Slimane, Meriem Mohindra, Komal TRADE FINANCE SMALL AND MEDIUM SIZE ENTERPRISE SME FINANCE ACCESS TO FINANCE TRADE CREDIT PUBLIC POLICY Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Middle East and North Africa (MENA), especially female entrepreneurs, face steep challenges in accessing finance and credit. This situation is now even more dire with the Covid-19 crisis. SMEs finance their activities in three main ways: (i) shareholder funds from family, business partners, and investors (ii) payment facilities from suppliers and pre-payments from clients, known as inter-firm trade credit (in short “trade credit”), and (iii) credit facilities from banks and other financial institutions, of which a large chunk is for working capital. All these sources of funds are required for SMEs to conduct their activities in a financially sustainable manner. The focus of this quick note is on the latter aspects: SME access to inter-firm trade credit and bank facilities to finance trade. These have major implications for financial inclusion, private sector development, value chains, and ultimately, on employment and growth. IFC is already very active in this segment, notably in poorer and fragile countries with the support of the IDA Private Sector Window, but more can be done by the World Bank. The financing of trade and value chains also needs to be much better understood by policymakers in our MENA client countries. 2020-12-08T14:29:05Z 2020-12-08T14:29:05Z 2020-12 Brief http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/446661606972783139/Improving-SME-Access-to-Trade-Credit-and-Financing-in-MENA http://hdl.handle.net/10986/34898 English MENA Knowledge and Learning Quick Notes Series;No. 180 CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo World Bank World Bank, Washington, DC Publications & Research Publications & Research :: Brief Middle East and North Africa Middle East North Africa
repository_type Digital Repository
institution_category Foreign Institution
institution Digital Repositories
building World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection World Bank
language English
topic TRADE FINANCE
SMALL AND MEDIUM SIZE ENTERPRISE
SME FINANCE
ACCESS TO FINANCE
TRADE CREDIT
PUBLIC POLICY
spellingShingle TRADE FINANCE
SMALL AND MEDIUM SIZE ENTERPRISE
SME FINANCE
ACCESS TO FINANCE
TRADE CREDIT
PUBLIC POLICY
Dornel, Arnaud
Ait Ali Slimane, Meriem
Mohindra, Komal
Improving SME Access to Trade Credit and Financing in MENA
geographic_facet Middle East and North Africa
Middle East
North Africa
relation MENA Knowledge and Learning Quick Notes Series;No. 180
description Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Middle East and North Africa (MENA), especially female entrepreneurs, face steep challenges in accessing finance and credit. This situation is now even more dire with the Covid-19 crisis. SMEs finance their activities in three main ways: (i) shareholder funds from family, business partners, and investors (ii) payment facilities from suppliers and pre-payments from clients, known as inter-firm trade credit (in short “trade credit”), and (iii) credit facilities from banks and other financial institutions, of which a large chunk is for working capital. All these sources of funds are required for SMEs to conduct their activities in a financially sustainable manner. The focus of this quick note is on the latter aspects: SME access to inter-firm trade credit and bank facilities to finance trade. These have major implications for financial inclusion, private sector development, value chains, and ultimately, on employment and growth. IFC is already very active in this segment, notably in poorer and fragile countries with the support of the IDA Private Sector Window, but more can be done by the World Bank. The financing of trade and value chains also needs to be much better understood by policymakers in our MENA client countries.
format Brief
author Dornel, Arnaud
Ait Ali Slimane, Meriem
Mohindra, Komal
author_facet Dornel, Arnaud
Ait Ali Slimane, Meriem
Mohindra, Komal
author_sort Dornel, Arnaud
title Improving SME Access to Trade Credit and Financing in MENA
title_short Improving SME Access to Trade Credit and Financing in MENA
title_full Improving SME Access to Trade Credit and Financing in MENA
title_fullStr Improving SME Access to Trade Credit and Financing in MENA
title_full_unstemmed Improving SME Access to Trade Credit and Financing in MENA
title_sort improving sme access to trade credit and financing in mena
publisher World Bank, Washington, DC
publishDate 2020
url http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/446661606972783139/Improving-SME-Access-to-Trade-Credit-and-Financing-in-MENA
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/34898
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