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SME Finance Policy Guide

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G-20 <strong>SME</strong> FINANCE POLICY GUIDE<br />

61<br />

market contributed with 50,000 direct jobs and about<br />

200,000 indirect jobs in 2009. 66<br />

To address the problem of payment delays by government<br />

to <strong>SME</strong>s, and the possibility that delayed payments<br />

might lead to insolvencies, specific measures<br />

introduced by some OECD countries are:<br />

i) Legal moves to shorten payment delays and<br />

enforce payment discipline (France); and<br />

ii) Reduction of government payment delays<br />

(Australia, France, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands,<br />

New Zealand, and United Kingdom).<br />

For example the U.K. government has cut payment<br />

delays to 10 days. Other governments are paying their<br />

<strong>SME</strong>s suppliers within 30 days or less, and the European<br />

Commission is revising the directive on payment<br />

delays in view of improving payment behavior. 67<br />

Challenges and Priorities for LDCs<br />

This approach can have particularly high impact where<br />

<strong>SME</strong>s are not well connected to supply chain finance,<br />

as is the case in many LDCs. Governments can use<br />

their role as buyers of goods and services from <strong>SME</strong>s to<br />

link those <strong>SME</strong>s to factoring, discounting, and contract-based<br />

financing. This in turn links <strong>SME</strong>s to financial<br />

services more broadly as an indirect result of<br />

improving their credit record.<br />

While some countries are already reforming the public<br />

procurement rules to provide a level playing field for <strong>SME</strong>s<br />

bidding for public contracts, 68 significant efforts may still<br />

be required to change public procurement practice and<br />

dismantle many barriers that discourage <strong>SME</strong>s from<br />

responding to tenders or even lead them to avoid such<br />

opportunities altogether. These include difficulties in<br />

obtaining information, lack of knowledge about tender<br />

procedures, the large size of the contracts, a short time span<br />

to prepare proposals and the cost of preparing them (since<br />

many costs are fixed, <strong>SME</strong>s face disproportionately high<br />

costs in comparison with larger enterprises), high administrative<br />

burdens, or unclear jargon used in tenders.<br />

C.3.5: <strong>SME</strong> CAPACITY, CREDITWORTHINESS<br />

<strong>SME</strong>s create jobs and income, contribute to poverty<br />

reduction, and help build a market-oriented economy.<br />

While <strong>SME</strong>s are a major source of employment and<br />

income for all countries, they are particularly important<br />

in developing economies, where <strong>SME</strong>s have the<br />

largest share of employment and job creation. 69<br />

<strong>SME</strong>s<br />

typically represent more than 90 percent of all firms<br />

outside the agricultural sector 70 and are responsible for<br />

more than 60 percent of employment and 60 percent<br />

of GDP in developing economies. 71<br />

The importance of <strong>SME</strong>s in developing markets contrasts<br />

with the multitude of constraints they face.<br />

Developing-economy <strong>SME</strong>s face an inter-related set of<br />

barriers that hamper their productivity growth, and<br />

thus their ability to contribute to economic and social<br />

development. Barriers to <strong>SME</strong> development fall into<br />

three general categories: business environment, knowhow,<br />

and finance. 72<br />

Problems in any one category tend<br />

to compound the obstacles in other areas. For example,<br />

limited managerial skills impede access to financial<br />

resources, and a poor business climate discourages<br />

<strong>SME</strong>s from investing in competitiveness.<br />

Research suggests that firms in emerging markets tend<br />

to have poorer management practices than those in<br />

66 According to the Chile Compra Strategic Plan 2010-2012.<br />

67 See The Impact of the Global Crisis on <strong>SME</strong> and Entrepreneurship Financing and <strong>Policy</strong> Responses. OECD 2009<br />

68 Such as the 2004 EU Directives reforming the public procurement rules<br />

69 Meghana Ayyagari, Asli Demirguc-Kunt and Vojislav Maksimovic, “Small vs. Young Firms across the World: Contribution to Employment,<br />

Job Creation, and Growth,” The World Bank Development Research Group (April 2011): 4.<br />

70 “Promoting <strong>SME</strong>s for Development: The Enabling Environment and Trade and Investment Capacity Building,” DAC Journal, Vol. 5, No. 2<br />

(2004): 29.<br />

71 “Why Support <strong>SME</strong>s?” International <strong>Finance</strong> Corporation, World Bank Group (2010): 3.<br />

72 Michael Klein, “Promoting Small and Medium Enterprises: Their Importance and the Role of Development <strong>Finance</strong> Institutions in<br />

Supporting Them,” The Atrium Dialogues, DEG KfW Bankengruppe (November 2010): 12-13.

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