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Access to finance, particularly credit, is widely recognized as problematic for small and medium enterprises (SMEs), hampering their growth and development. To address this challenge, many governments around the world intervene in SME credit markets through credit guarantee schemes (CGSs). A CGS offers risk mitigation to lenders by taking a share of the lenders’ losses on SME loans in case of default. CGSs can contribute to expand access to finance for SMEs. Yet they may bring limited value added and prove costly if they are not designed and implemented well. There have been efforts in recent years to identify good practices for CGSs, but the international community still lacks a common set of principles or standards that can help governments establish, operate, and evaluate CGSs for SMEs. The Principles for Public Credit Guarantees for SMEs are filling this gap. The Principles provide a generally accepted set of good practices, which can serve as a global reference for the design, execution, and evaluation of public CGSs around the world. The Principles propose appropriate governance and risk management arrangements, as well as operational conduct rules for CGSs, which can lead to improved outreach and additionality along with financial sustainability. Developed through extensive consultations with stakeholders, the Principles draw from both the literature on good practices for CGSs and sound practices implemented by a number of successful CGSs around the world.

The empirical literature on institutions and development has been challenged on grounds of reverse causality, measurement error in institutional indicators, and heterogeneity. This paper uses firm-level data across countries to confront these challenges. Instead of analyzing ultimate outcomes, such as income levels where institutional quality is likely endogenous, the focus is on firm-level external finance. Moreover, institutions are “unbundled” to explore how various types of institutions affect external finance differently. The paper documents that micro firms have significantly less access to external finance than small and medium firms. General financial development and contracting institutions that facilitate transactions between private parties exert little effect, on average, on firms’ access to external finance. In contrast, property rights institutions that constrain political and economic elites exhibit stronger positive association with access to external finance. The analysis finds evidence of attenuation bias associated with error in measuring institutions. For leveling the playing field between elite and non-elite firms (as proxied by firm size) in their access to external finance, property rights institutions also figure more prominently—with an important exception for the information environment, a component of contracting institutions. The results indicate that a specific channel through which development is affected more by property rights institutions rather than contracting institutions is external financing for firms.

Demand is also fueled by other factors: in many emerging economies a ‘demographic dividend’ of young people, the product of significant reductions in child and infant mortality rates—is poised to enter education and work. And, according to the 2014 Millennium Development Goals report, nearly 90 percent of children in developing regions are on track to complete primary education. The shift from agricultural to knowledge-based economies also plays a significant role in creating demand for higher learning. The purpose of the study was to identify key success factors in private sector student lending in order to support IFC in understanding, and potentially making investments, in student lending across a range of emerging markets. The study examined 70 student lending models globally as well as a range of innovative financial models. Detailed case studies were developed for eight compelling and diverse private sector student lending models. The study also highlighted a range of innovative financial models including crowd funding, big box banking, social impact bonds, and other mechanisms. The purpose of this investigation of innovative financial models was to see what leading-edge methods might be at work in other sectors and to see if they might offer inspiration to student lending.

This update considers new findings since the initial Stocktaking report, substantiating the contribution of the private sector, and of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in particular, for new jobs and investment. These findings further illustrate the key role access to finance plays in SMEs abilities and willingness to add jobs including the special circumstances of fast-growing SMEs, or gazelles. The new findings further detail availability and gaps in SME financing, including for specific subsectors such as women-owned firms and agri-enterprises. New trends include progress made in recent years to improve financial markets infrastructure, and expanded lending in countries such as China, which have made progress in this area. The findings also include key private sector innovations pioneered by the SME Finance Challenge winners and other private sector institutions, focusing on key sector opportunities (such as agribusiness and energy), product innovation (such as expanded local currency options), and risk management alternatives. The new findings and trends highlight the potential of collaborative platforms that have emerged from the G-20/GPFI (Global Partnership for Financial Inclusion) process to combine resources to improve SME access to finance, and some of the major outstanding issues and obstacles these platforms might address. The conclusion provides recommendations for priority issues and work areas for G-20/GPFI attention.

This report is organized into three main sections. Section one sets out the context by describing the particular challenges and opportunities related to financing agriculture, followed by defining the target group of agricultural SME s. Section two describes a set of innovative financing models. Section three then provides a framework for an indicative assessment of these models by gathering and forming observations from the case studies. The model observations are then highlighted in three types of country contexts in which bankers in developing countries may find themselves. Preliminary assessment results are presented. The report concludes with key lessons learned on innovative agricultural financing, relevant case studies, and an outlook on further work in this area. Annexes present methodologies and case studies representing the various models.

The global financial crisis and ensuing credit crunch has revived the discussion on the role of public sector in the financial system around the world and in El Salvador, authorities have announced plans to step up their activities. A clearly defined strategy for the public banks, focused on complementing private sector activity, is necessary as their activities expand to improve access to finance and diversify the sources of funding. Any process of growth needs to accompany by improvement in risk management processes, governance arrangements and enhanced supervision. Going forward, the two public retail banks should increase their specialization in different market segments. The development bank role can be enhanced while maintaining its second tier status. To make the guarantee funds effective, in addition to scale their size, several operational features need to be improved.

Output-Based Aid (OBA) and other results-based financing mechanisms are gaining popularity in the development context for many reasons, in particular, the desire to link scarce public funding with actual results on the ground. But withholding disbursements until the delivery of 'results' or 'outputs' requires that the service providers delivering the results must have access to finance (A2F) to pay for the 'inputs' in the first place. Such finance is not always available or affordable. The purpose of this working paper is to outline some of the key issues related to OBA and A2F. The analysis focuses on the energy, water, and health sectors. Micro, small and medium enterprise (MSME) financing is the main topic; however, OBA is ultimately about poor households affording access to basic services, and many OBA schemes attempt to address A2F for households, so some of these innovations are also described. The working paper is expected to support a consultative process between experts dealing with A2F challenges and experts on OBA. This process should help raise awareness of the OBA approach among potential financiers, and help consider solutions (instruments, partnerships, capacity building) so that OBA and other similar results-based financing mechanisms can be brought to scale and integrated into broader sector policy, where appropriate.

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) play a major role in economic development, particularly in emerging countries. Access to finance remains a key constraint to SME development in emerging economies. Closing the credit gap for formal SMEs will be less daunting than for informal SMEs. The SME finance gap is the result of a mismatch between the needs of the small firms and the supply of financial services, which typically are easier for larger firms to access. Deficiencies in the enabling environment and residual market failures have motivated government interventions to foster SME access to financing. The stocktaking exercise confirms the rise in various parts of the world of specific business models aimed at providing financial services to SMEs in a cost-effective manner. Effective SME financing models can be implemented in different country and market environments, but greater outreach is achieved in the most developed environments for the financial sector. Although SME banking and microfinance models are successfully being rolled out in an increasing number of countries and regions, equity financing remains a challenge in developing economies. The role of international finance institutions (IFIs) and development finance institutions (DFIs) to foster SME financing in the developing world has been significant so far. Increasing access to finance can only be successful if qualitative aspects are taken into account.