Foreword
Financing SMEs and Entrepreneurs 2024: An OECD Scoreboard provides a comprehensive framework for policymakers and other stakeholders to monitor access to finance by SMEs and entrepreneurs. It also constitutes a valuable tool to support the design and evaluation of policy measures and to monitor the implications of financial reforms on access to finance and financing conditions for SMEs more generally.
This 2024 edition provides information on SME and entrepreneurship financing trends and policy developments after a period of a series of macroeconomic disruptions, including significant inflationary pressures, and a strong tightening of monetary policy, which resulted in a swift increase in borrowing costs and restrictive lending conditions. It also sheds light on the recent policy measures implemented to support SMEs in response to the uncertain economic environment. In particular, it seeks to foster SME resilience through increasing the diversification of SME financing sources and instruments to sustain investments in green and digital, and promoting gender equality on access to finance. Based on data collected for the country profiles and information from demand-side surveys, it includes indicators on debt, equity and asset-based finance, as well as on financing framework conditions complemented by summaries of public and private initiatives to support SME access to finance.
Since the Scoreboard exercise started more than a decade ago, this publication has become an international reference for information on SME and entrepreneurship finance trends and policies. It presents data and policy developments for 47 countries, including Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, the People’s Republic of China, Colombia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Korea, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Serbia, the Slovak Republic, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Türkiye, Ukraine, the United Kingdom and the United States.
Chapter 1 focuses on developments in SME finance and financing conditions based on official data up to 2022, complemented by information available for 2023. It also covers ongoing policy measures drawing on data and information received from experts from participating countries, as well as from external sources. Chapter 2 provides an overview of the sustainable finance landscape for SMEs and focuses on the key challenges that these companies face in seeking out and accessing financing for the green transition. It also provides recommendations to strengthen the provision of financial and non-financial support for SME sustainability.
This publication was prepared by the Entrepreneurship, SMEs and Tourism Division of the Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities (CFE/EST) under the guidance of the OECD Committee on SMEs and Entrepreneurs (CSMEE) and its Informal Steering Group on SME and Entrepreneurship Financing. The preliminary draft was discussed at the meeting of the CSMEE Informal Steering Group on SME Finance on 6 – 7 September 2023, and a revised draft was presented at the fifth meeting of the CSMEE on 9-10 November 2023. Chapter 2 brings insights from the 2023 survey on ‘Financing SMEs for Sustainability: Financial Institution Strategies and Approaches’ and builds on the 2022 CSMEE report on ‘Financing SMEs for Sustainability: Drivers, Constraints and Policies’ developed by the CSMEE and informed by the activities of the OECD Platform on Financing SMEs for Sustainability. The final report was approved by written procedure on 24 January 2024 [CFE/SME(2023)15/CHAP1/FINAL, CFE/SME(2023)15/CHAP2/FINAL and CFE/SME(2023)15/CHAP3/ADD/FINAL].