SMEs in Asia need easier access to credit - a podcast by Asian Development Bank Institute

Small and medium-sized enterprises are the backbone of Asia’s economies.

The Asian Development Bank’s most recent SME survey covered 20 countries in Central, East, South, Southeast Asia, and the Paci?c and showed that SMEs accounted for an average of 96% of all enterprises and 62% of the national labor force.

SMEs contributed an average of 42% of the gross domestic product or manufacturing value added in these countries, and continued to in?uence trade.

The latest data show that SMEs in the People’s Republic of China and India accounted for more than 40% of total export value, followed by 26% in Thailand, 19% in the Republic of Korea, and 16% in Indonesia.

Yet their development is hindered because of the difficulty accessing affordable credit.

Read the transcript
http://bit.ly/2CbsUEl

Read the working paper
https://www.adb.org/publications/solutions-smes-difficulties-accessing-finance-asian-experiences

About the authors
Naoyuki Yoshino is dean of ADBI

Farhad Taghizadeh-Hesary is an assistant professor of economics at Keio University, Tokyo

Know more about ADBI’s work on SMEs
http://bit.ly/2ElPHnb
http://bit.ly/2CdtNwf

Related Podcast
http://bit.ly/2H6cRLR
http://bit.ly/2tZS4mU

Further episodes of Asia's Developing Future

Further podcasts by Asian Development Bank Institute

Website of Asian Development Bank Institute