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Одним из приоритетных направлений государственной экономической политики является комплексная, в том числе финансовая, поддержка бизнес-проектов. Существует ряд целевых программ, под которые в бюджеты разных уровней заложены средства для помощи предприятиям крупного, среднего и малого бизнеса. Государство пытается действовать точечно, однако единой системы, отражающей полную картину мер и инструментов господдержки, пока не существует. В статье приводится попытка систематизации источников финансирования бизнеса в рамках государственного участия., One of the priorities of the state economic policy is complex, including financial, support for business projects. There are a number of targeted programs for which funds are budgeted at various levels to help large, medium and small businesses. The state is trying to act pointwise, but a single system that reflects the full picture of the measures and instruments of state support does not exist yet. The article provides an attempt to systematize the sources of financing business in the framework of state participation., №1(145) (2019)

Using comprehensive bank-loan contract information, we show that the power of a firm relative to its suppliers eases its terms of bank financing, specifically through lower loan prices and less restrictive non-price contract terms. Our results are robust to controlling for product-market competition. Supply chain power enables the firm to achieve a greater level of control over its inventory, constituting a significant portion of the reduction in its overall loan cost. We argue that it is important to consider supply-chain related issues when analyzing the external-financing capacity of firms.

This paper investigates the links between alternative growth phases of firms and barriers to financing and investment using firm-level information for a representative sample of EU companies. We propose a novel classification of corporates: high growth (HGEs), stable and declining enterprises. We find that during the phase of high growth, firms are on average more financially constrained. To match their needs for external finance, HGEs are more likely to apply for equity financing. Furthermore, we identify firms with high growth potential. Using survey data, we investigate the barriers to investment activities faced by actual and potential HGEs. Our findings suggest that the most stringent obstacles for actual HGEs are the availability of skilled staff and business regulations, while potential HGEs are blocked by uncertainty about the future.

We investigate whether a firm's debt structure can act as a mitigating factor to the negative effects of a corporate rating downgrade. Specifically, we study how a firm's relative mix of bank and non-bank financing affects its stock market valuation and leverage adjustment following a downgrade. We document that, in the high-yield segment, companies with a larger proportion of bank debt suffer less from the distorting effects of rating downgrades, as they: (i) experience less negative abnormal stock returns around the event; (ii) reduce their market leverage less than peers that rely more on other sources of debt. Our findings confirm the benefits of bank financing for risky firms and provide a number of new insights into how debt structure affects firm value and capital structure decisions over and above the information directly embedded in credit ratings.

One of the major problems that SMEs faces today is that of access to bank credit. Close relationships are increasingly cited as a catalyst for improving access to bank credit. The aim of this article is to test the effect of geographical proximity and close relationship on SMEs' access to bank credit in Cameroon. Using a Logit model on a sample of 225 SMEs, the two types of close relationships are represented by five factors: the distance in kilometers between the bank and SME, costs transportation, belonging to business networks, interpersonal relationships, and the duration of the relationship bank/SME. At the end of the investigation, the results show that, except transportation costs, the other four variables contribute significantly to the increase SMEs' access to bank credit in Cameroon., L'un des problèmes majeurs que rencontrent les PME aujourd'hui est celui de l'accès au crédit bancaire. Le financement de proximité est de plus en plus évoqué comme l'une des solutions alternatives à l'accès au crédit bancaire. L'objectif de cet article est de vérifier l'effet de la proximité géographique et de la proximité relationnelle sur l'accès des PME camerounaises au crédit bancaire. À l'aide d'un modèle Logit, sur un échantillon de 225 PME, les deux types de relations de proximité sont représentés par cinq facteurs : la distance en kilomètres séparant la banque et la PME, les coûts de transport, l'appartenance aux réseaux d'affaires, les relations interpersonnelles, la durée de la relation banque/ PME. Au terme de nos investigations, les résultats montrent qu'à l'exception des coûts de transport, les quatre autres variables augmentent significativement l'accès au crédit bancaire des PME au Cameroun.

International audience; Entrepreneurship plays a crucial role in economic development and understanding the financing of new ventures is crucial. As pointed out by Cumming and Vismara (2017), entrepreneurial finance is very segmented, especially by source of financing by which entrepreneurs obtain their funds. A common belief about the financing of business start-ups is that they are primarily financed by equity. Several empirical studies on entrepreneurial firms’ datasets show bank financing is an important source of financing for new businesses (Robb and Robinson, 2014; Coleman et al., 2016). Moreover technological innovation and new behaviors of capital providers affect the way new ventures are funded. In France, banks are beginning to create incubators or accelerators, to lend money to new or nascent innovative projects, to take a share of equity capital of new ventures, and to implement different types of partnerships with equity crowdfunding platforms or private incubators. Within the context of digital finance and the increase of early stage financing needs, this theoretical research aims at discussing this new banks’ strategies and relevant areas of further research on the role of bank financing and relationship for nascent and new entrepreneurial firms, namely start-ups. The main question addressed concerns the sustainability of these strategies and their bearing on the future growth of start-ups.

Con el fin de revelar información contenida en los estados financieros que sean de uso general para todos los usuarios, generado un análisis más detallado de la información financiera y del negocio en marcha de una compañía, se abre paso a la implementación de las Normas Internacionales de Información Financiera, constituyendo un proceso de ajuste global y unificación del lenguaje financiero In order to disclose information contained in the financial statements that are of general use to all users, generated a more detailed analysis of the financial information and the business in progress of a company, it opens the way to the implementation of the International Standards of Financial Information, constituting a process of global adjustment and unification of the financial language. Pregrado

Mestrado em Decisão Económica e Empresarial O Acesso ao financiamento é de extrema importância para o funcionamento das empresas, especialmente as pequenas e médias. Com tal pretendemos estudar, para as pequenas e médias empreas portuguesas, porque factores é ele afectado. Analisando o "Survey on the Access to Finance of Enterprises" de Outubro de 2014 a Março de 2015, pretendemos compreender o panorama actual do acesso ao financiamento em Portugal, e os factores chave que implicam a uma diminuição do financiamento disponível e consequentemente a que as empresas Portuguesas tenham grandes problemas de financiamento. O nosso estudo do "survey" mostra-nos que em Portugal o acesso ao financiamento está a melhorar, sendo de momento o problema menos premente das empresas. No entanto, a maior parte das empresas ainda se demonstram bastante preocupadas, havendo espaço para melhorar. Nos nossos modelos aferimos que características como tamanho, idade e estrutura de controlo das empresas não afectam o acesso ao financiamento como seria de esperar, mas outras variáveis como o histórico de crédito, problemas de procura interna e a importância de algumas fontes de financiamento afectam o acesso a este pelas empresas. Access to finance is extremely important so firms can perform well, especially small and medium enterprises, so it is important to study which factors affect the access to finance for them. Analyzing the Survey on the Access to Finance of Enterprises of October 2014 to March 2015 we intend to understand the current outlook of the access to finance in Portugal and the key factors that leads Portuguese firms to low financing availability and therefore high financing problems. Our study of the survey shows us that in Portugal the access to finance panorama is improving, now being the last problem that worry firms, but there is still a great concern for most of the them, so there is room for improvement. In our models we can also see that such characteristics as size of the firm, age and ownership structure do not affect finance access as commonly stated, but other variables as credit history past record, intern demand problems and relevance of some sources of financing really affects the finance access for firms. info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

Perçu comme une des contraintes majeures au développement et à la croissance, l’accès au crédit bancaire demeure une question d’actualité dans la formulation des politiques de promotion et d’encadrement de la PME. En effet, non seulement la PME est souvent caractérisée par une certaine nébulosité dans sa gestion, mais elle est aussi parfois incapable de présenter des éléments de garantie exigés par les banques. Le capital social est de plus en plus évoqué comme un instrument à même de réduire les coûts de transaction des banques dans la surveillance de leurs clients et, par conséquent, devrait amoindrir les désavantages de l’asymétrie d’information. Ainsi, en se situant dans un environnement caractérisé par de fortes asymétries d’information à l’instar de l’Afrique, cette étude examine l’aptitude du capital social à faciliter l’accès au crédit bancaire de la PME camerounaise. Les tests empiriques effectués à partir du modèle Logit multinomial sur la base d’un échantillon de 413 PME, font ressortir un effet positif et significatif de l’indice du capital social sur l’octroi du crédit bancaire, quel que soit le terme. Globalement, l’aptitude du capital social à faciliter l’accès au crédit bancaire passe par la réduction du degré d’opacité de la PME aux yeux du banquier., Perceived as one of the main constraints to growth and development, access to credit remains an up to date issue in the design of policies aiming at the promotion and framing of SMEs. Often, SMEs are not only characterized by a flaw management process, sometimes they are incapable to provide-elements of collaterals fitting the requirements of banks. Social capital is more and more referred to as an instrument likely to reduce the transaction costs of banks in their monitoring process over their clients and, consequently it is seen as having a high potential of lessening the disadvantages associated to informational asymmetries. Therefore, building on a context of high information asymmetries, this study examines the aptitude of social capital to facilitate access to banking credit for Cameroonian SMEs. Based on a sample of 413 SMEs, a multinomial Logit model confirms a positive and significant effect of the index of social capital in the explanation of access to credit, irrespective of the term of the credit. Globally, the aptitude of social capital to ease the constraint of access to credit passes through the fact that, for the bankers, it serves as a factor that reduces the degree of opacity in the management of SMEs., Percibida como una de las mayores coacciones al desarrollo y al crecimiento, el acceso al crédito bancario queda un asunto de actualidad en la formulación de las políticas de promoción y de encuadramiento de la pequeña y de media empresa (PyME). En efecto, no sólo la PyME es a menudo caracterizada por una cierta nebulosidad en su gestión, pero a veces es también incapaz presentar elementos de garantía exigidos por las bancas. El capital social es cada vez más presentado como un instrumento capaz de disminuir los costes de transacción de las bancas en la vigilancia de sus clientes y, por consiguiente, debería aminorar las desventajas situándose en un entorno caracterizado por fuertes asimetrías de información a ejemplo de África, este estudio examina la aptitud del capital social en facilitar el acceso al crédito bancario de la pequeña y de media empresa camerunesa. Las pruebas empíricas realizadas a partir del modelo Logit multinomial en la base de una muestra de 413 PyME, se destacan un efecto positivo y significativo del índice del capital social en el acceso al crédito bancario cual que sea el término. Globalmente, la aptitud del capital social en facilitar el acceso al crédito bancario pasa por la reducción del grado de opacidad de la PyME a la mirada del banquero.

SMEs—Small- and Medium-Sized Enterprises—in the cultural and creative sector traditionally face difficulties in accessing bank financing (The entrepreneurial dimension of the cultural and creative industries. Hogeschool vor de Kunsten Utrecht—HKU, 2010). This weakness in the ability to support their financing structure could not only limit their development but also be particularly problematic in times of crisis, when other financial resources are scarce and when the ability to prove resilient is crucial. This paper investigates the topic of access to bank financing for SMEs in the cultural and creative sector by means of an exploratory study carried out in the region of Burgundy (France) that investigates the perspectives of both banks and entrepreneurs.

PhD (Business Administration), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus If asked to consider the contributions of business to socio-economic welfare, one’s thoughts inevitably wander in the direction of major, household name, corporations. The value-add of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) is often overlooked. The fact however, is that the SME business sector contributes substantially to global GDP and more than substantially to global job creation. The health and prosperity of all economies are thus directly dependent on a vibrant, expanding SME sector. It is therefore of crucial importance for global economic prosperity that the SME phenomenon is nurtured and supported to ensure the survival and sustainability thereof. As important as a healthy and growing SME sector may be, it is a commonly accepted truth that SMEs face a menagerie of challenges in their day to day business involvement, of which access to finance is one of the most commonly accepted, and potentially crippling. As such, SMEs regard banks as the go to provider of financing. Banks, on the other hand, have always regarded SMEs as higher risk lenders than bigger corporations. To abridge this risk, banks have historically relied on audited financial statements to mitigate the risk-related concerns they may have had. Audited financial statements gave banks the assurance, and peace of mind, that the information provided by SMEs during a loan application was at least a fair reflection of the position of the business at that point in time. Banks are more comfortable granting loans based on accurate and dependable financial information. The playing field in South Africa has however changed recently with the advent of the new Companies Act, No. 71 of 2008. The new act introduced the independent review as an alternative to the statutory audit. SMEs now have to choose between doing a less expensive independent review, while potentially sacrificing the goodwill banks have shown to audited financial statements during lending processes, or a full-fledged audit at a significantly higher cost, but with the benefit of keeping the banks positive during loan applications. This research paper delves into how much value SMEs should place on audited financial statements since the introduction of the new Act, when applying for bank financing. To address this predicament the research attempts to establish whether banks still place reliance on audited financial statements when evaluating loan applications. This is done by investigating the information banks require from SMEs when applying for financing. The research then compares these findings to the attitudes and perceptions of SME owners towards the requirements, in terms of audited financial statements, imposed on them by banks when applying for financing. As mentioned earlier, banks have historically relied on audited financial statements to provide reasonable assurance that financial information is accurate. The fact that audited financial statements have effectively fallen by the wayside, inevitably means that banks will start to view financial information provided by SMEs as opaque and asymmetrical. History shows us that accounting was born out of the need merchants had to record their transactional activities. As such, accounting has provided the solution the business domain requires, and to the extent that accounting has survived for centuries as the language of business. It then follows that a basic skillset in accounting, the language of business, may be what bridges the perception gap between perceived asymmetrical information and perceived accurate information. The research thus further investigates what SMEs can do to circumvent negative perceptions in terms of their financial information. This is done by investigating the attitudes of SME owners towards accounting as a more prolific tool by which the perception of asymmetrical information can be dispelled. The research will be of great value to SMEs by providing guidance concerning the decision between whether to audit or have an independent review done. It will further be of value in terms of investigating alternative ways of replacing the goodwill lost by potentially not providing banks with audited financial statements during loan applications. If this research can improve the success rate of SME bank loan applications in a small way, it will have accomplished much in the quest for economic sustainability of SMEs. Doctoral

In this paper we aim to explore how the type of bank ownership - local private banks, government-owned banks (public banks) and foreign banks - can affect relationship lending to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) by using a unique data set from Bangladeshi banking sector. We found that private banks differ from government-owned and foreign banks in terms of relationship lending and credit facilities to SMEs. More specifically, our results suggest that unlike government and foreign banks, private banks do consider soft information from relationship lending while setting up the loan spread to SMEs. We can also confirm that exclusive banking relationship or repeated banking with private banks can soften credit conditions (loan maturity and covenants). Moreover, we found empirical evidence that banking relationship is important for private banks in terms of SME credit risk evaluation. Finally, as according to our expectation, the results confirm that regardless of prior relationship, private banks are more depended on collateral-based lending to SMEs than government-owned or foreign banks. © Foundation of International Studies, 2017. and CSR, 2017.

Banks and venture capitalists enable the financing of entrepreneurial firms and thereby promote regional development. The effectiveness of these two very different financing arrangements depends on the manner in which they are delivered, and the institutional conditions of the regions in which they operate. This editorial introduces the issues surrounding these topics, overviews selected papers in the entrepreneurial finance literature, and summarizes the special issue papers and their contributions to the literature. We further provide avenues for relevant and fruitful further research.

Benign financing conditions since the global financial crisis and, more recently, rising financing needs have fueled a rapid increase in credit to the nonfinancial private sector, especially to the corporate sector, in emerging markets and developing economies. Credit growth has been most pronounced, and nearing the pace associated with past credit booms, in commodity exporting countries. In contrast, in commodity importers, credit-to-gross domestic product ratios are elevated but have been stable or shrinking over the past few years. That said, in a few, mostly energy exporting, emerging and developing countries, credit to the private sector is now near levels that have been associated with past episodes of financial stress.

We examine the issue of pledging collateral and its effect on access to credit, interest rates and credit risk of SMEs financing in Bangladesh with respect to bank size. We also examine the collateral classification (fixed assets collateral, personal guarantee and third-party guarantee) by bank ownership types to find what types of collateral are preferred by public, private and foreign banks in Bangladesh for lending to firms. In addition to that, we examine whether collateral requirements are different between large and small banks as they have different incentives for collateral based lending. Our empirical results suggest that small banks have no additional incentives to provide loans based on the collateral security than large banks. Hence, we did not find any evidence that collateral can increase access to credit for SMEs from small banks. Similarly, we also did not find any effect of collateral on interest rates or collateral security can lower the default rates of the SME loans and the results are similar regardless bank size. With regards to collateral segmentation across bank ownership types and bank size, our regression’s results suggest that each type of banks has its own preferences about collateral requirements while lending to firms. Therefore, we conclude that depending on bank internal policy commercial banks ask for different collateral, which comply with the best interests of banks. © Foundation of International Studies, 2016.

This paper deals with the question of knowing if countries whose activity of financing is mainly bank based face crises more expensive than those where the bond markets are broader and more developed. The results of the empirical tests on a panel of emerging countries suggest that bank based financial systems are associated with crises slightly more expensive, whereas the relationship between the bond markets and the crises’ costs is fragile. Moreover, financial systems where bond markets play an important role are associated with a higher growth of the production, and this, independently of the presence or not of crises. The consideration of the combined effect of financial liberalization and institutional framework on the bond markets development shows the importance of the direction of the financial liberalization. We join in this case one of the most significant aspects of the “sequencing” theorized by McKinnon (1973). Finally, an effective prudential regulation tends to reduce significantly the probability of occurrence of banking crises. Mots cles: Financement obligataire, Financement bancaire, Crises bancaires, Donnees de panel.Key words: Bond financing, Bank financing, Banking crisis, Panel data.JEL: E44, G0, G21.

Using data for 91 large banks from 45 countries, this paper finds that foreign, domestic private, and government-owned banks use different lending technologies and organizational structures for SME financing. The extent, type, and pricing of SME loans, however, is not strongly correlated with lending technologies and organizational structures, suggesting that SME financing need not be based only on “relationship lending”. Consistent with these results, we find few significant differences in the extent, type, and pricing of SME loans across bank types. Instead, we find significant differences across developed and developing countries, driven by differences in the institutional and legal environment.

A unique dataset of over 70,000 firms, most of which are small, in over 100 countries, is utilized to systematically study the use of different financing sources for new and young firms. Consistent age-related patterns emerge. Across all countries younger firms rely less on bank financing and more on informal financing. There is a clear substitution effect: as firms mature, more firms switch out of informal finance toward bank finance, while the total proportion of firms using external finance remains relatively unchanged. Importantly, these relationships hold for firms of different sizes, firms in different sectors, and firms located in countries with different income levels and on different continents. Thus, these patterns of young firm financing show clear universal tendencies. Given that even small firms increasingly use formal bank financing over time, these results suggest that information asymmetry plays an important role in decreasing a young firm's ability to obtain bank finance.

Myanmar’s financial system is undergoing a rapid transformation. A history of economic isolation has left Myanmar with small and underdeveloped financial institutions and very low access to financial services. Since 2011, however, demands on the financial system have grown exponentially with increased trade and investment, growing household income, and expanding government operations. While recent reforms have stimulated financial sector growth, much more needs to be done to establish a competitive and vibrant financial sector that can meet the needs of Myanmar’s expanding economy, boost incomes, and reduce poverty particularly among those living in rural areas. Increasing access to financial services is critical to achieving shared prosperity in Myanmar.

This paper sheds light on how recent financial tensions in the euro area were ultimately reflected in bank interest rate setting. We make two new contributions. First, we develop a theoretical model capturing banks financing and the rate setting choices. Banks in the model can finance themselves through deposits, on the money market and/or by issuing bonds. Second, we assemble a novel database and put our model to test. Our model extends that of Gambacorta (2004), as we formalise banks' decision to issue debt endogenously. Gambacorta's analysis was conducted for Italian banks and did not include the recent financial crisis. Instead, we focus our analysis on the Great Recession period (July 2007 to October 2014) and euro area banks. From a monetary policy perspective, both our theoretical model and the empirical results provide useful information on the impact of some of the measures introduced by the ECB during the financial crisis. First, the ECB introduced specific measures to alleviate tensions in money markets. To the extent that these measures fostered stability in money markets, and reduced the volatility of money market rates, this paper shows that they were also channelled to bank rates. Second, the ECB also introduced measures to address tensions in bond markets. Our results also show that having access to debt financing has important implications for bank rate setting.

This report gives an overview of the key results from the analysis of the data collected in a survey conducted in October and November 2012 by the Austrian Institute for small and medium enterprise (SME) research on behalf of the World Bank center for financial reporting reform (CFRR). The survey was carried out using an online questionnaire and captures data from more than 780 SMEs that are representative of the Austrian SME sector. The primary purpose of this report is to assist the accounting and auditing profession, policy makers, and users of financial information in understanding the value and the constraints of SMEs’ financial reporting practices. It also feeds into a broader CFRR study on corporate financial reporting reform in Austria. The report presents the results of the survey grouped by topical areas as follows: accounting practices in Austrian SMEs; auditing financial statements; SME financing; and financial reporting and access to finance.

The paper presents a new theory of trade credit in which firms buy inputs on credit from suppliers to restore the benefits of secured bank financing impaired by contract incompleteness. In a setting where investment is endogenous and unobservable to financiers, we show that a bank-secured credit contract is time-inconsistent. Upon being granted credit, the entrepreneur has an incentive to alter the original input combination, jeopardizing the bank’s revenues. Anticipating the entrepreneur’s opportunism, the bank offers an unsecured credit contract, reducing the surplus from the venture. One way for the entrepreneur to commit to the contract terms is to purchase inputs on credit from the supplier. The supplier observes the input investment and acts as a guarantor that inputs will be purchased as contracted, thus facilitating access to secured bank financing. The commitment role of trade credit still holds in a multi-period extension that investigates the impact of bank relationship lending on secured debt and trade credit. Our model provides novel testable predictions on optimal financial contracts in both one-period and repeated lending relationships.

Dissertação de mestrado em Economia Monetária, Bancária e Financeira, Numa época em que a competitividade e a incerteza imperam no contexto industrial, a necessidade de perceber o comportamento do desempenho das empresas face aos factores externos, torna-se cada vez pertinente, para que os processos de tomada de decisão sejam cada vez mais ajustados à realidade das empresas. A literatura assume o financiamento externo como um possível mecanismo de fomento do desempenho pelos efeitos que poderá ter na redução dos custos da empresa, nomeadamente os resultantes da relação de agência. Tanto o aumento da participação dos gestores no capital da empresa como o recurso a endividamento externo poderão diminuir a probabilidade dos gestores se desviarem dos interesses dos acionistas, na medida em que, com aumento da participação dos gestores no capital da empresa, o seu comportamento terá a natural reflexão nos resultados do exercício, que são distribuídos pelas partes. O recurso ao endividamento permite diminuir os fluxos de caixa livres, impedindo que os gestores os utilizem de forma discricionária. Neste sentido, e centrando-nos no efeito do financiamento bancário, tentámos perceber a relação entre o mecanismo financiamento bancário e o desempenho de 52.004 empresas da indústria transformadora portuguesa, entre os anos 2009 e 2011. Foi analisado o desempenho das empresas e comparado com o financiamento obtido, através da aplicação de testes estatísticos, como o Teste T e o Teste KS. Os resultados obtidos não são lineares, havendo conclusões díspares dependendo da natureza da medida de desempenho analisada. De uma forma geral, quando analisamos o desempenho medido através de medidas de desempenho relativas, percebemos que a relação entre financiamento bancário e o desempenho das empresas é negativo, ou seja, à medida que o financiamento aumenta, o desempenho diminui. Situação contrária ocorre quando analisamos o desempenho em termos absolutos, concluindo que o desempenho tende a aumentar à medida que o financiamento bancário também aumenta., At a time when the competitiveness and uncertainty prevails in the industrial context, the need to understand the behavior of performance of the firms facing external factors is becoming increasingly relevant, it is so as the process of making decisions will be adjusted to the reality of the firms. The literature assumes that external funding can be a possible mechanism to increase performance by the effects it may have on reducing firm costs, particularly those related to agency. The raising participation of managers in to the capital of firm as the external debt relationship, may decrease the probability of managers divert the interests of shareholders by the fact that with increased participation of managers in the capital of the firm, their behavior will have a natural reflection on the performance and financial results, which are distributed by the parts. In this manner, focusing on the effect of bank financing, we tried to understand the relationship between this mechanism and performance of 52.004 portuguese firms operating in the manufacturing industry, among the years 2009 and 2011. It was analyzed the performance of firms and compared with the financing obtained by applying statistical tests such as the T Test and KS Test. The results obtained are nonlinear, having divergent conclusions depending on the nature of the way that performance was analyzed. In general, when we analyze the performance by relative measures, we realize that the relationship between the bank financing and the performance of firms appears to be negative, in a way, as the funding increases the performance decreases. Contrary situation occurs when we analyze the performance in absolute terms, concluding that the performance tends to increase as the bank financing also increases.

Mali is a vast, land-locked country in West Africa with a population of approximately 14.9 million, and a GDP per capita of USD480. The economy is largely rural, with over two-thirds of the population living off agriculture, notably cotton. Gold is the country’s largest export, though production has been declining and the industry faces an uncertain future as proven reserves are limited. The service sector, which represents 40 percent of GDP, is dominated by trade and commerce. Mali’s dependence on crops and gold makes it vulnerable to terms of trade shocks. Industry, which employs just 3 percent of the active population, consists largely of small-scale food processing and textile plants. The overwhelming majority of the population (over 90 percent) works in the informal sector. The FSAP Development Module focused on: i) the banking sector and legal framework (credit to the economy); ii) microfinance; iii) agricultural finance; iv) insurance; and v) housing finance2. The mission carried out in-depth assessments on each topic and provided recommendations aiming at mitigating financial vulnerabilities and supporting the development of the financial sector (i.e. development the credit to the economy while insuring financial stability).

There has been significant development of Mali’s banking sector in recent years, but it remains shallow, and access to banking services is limited. With the opening of a new bank in 2014, there are now 14 commercial banks operating in Mali. There has been a positive evolution of the banking sector in Mali from 2009-13. There have been a number of changes in recent years in the ownership structure of the banking sector, which is now dominated by foreign shareholders, primarily from Africa. The emergence of WAEMU banking groups is a recent phenomenon, spurred in part by the approval of a single banking license for the sub-region. Available financial soundness indicators (FSI) suggest that the banking sector is generally sound, though performance varies widely among banks, and asset quality is weak.

In April 2014, the Government of Benin launched the entreprenant status, a simplified and free legal regime offered to small informal businesses to enter the formal economy. This paper presents the short-term results of a randomized impact evaluation testing three different versions of the entreprenant status on business registration decisions, each version including incremental incentives to registration: (i) information on the new legal status and its benefits, (ii) business training, counseling services, and support to open a bank account, (iii) tax mediation services. The study included 3,600 informal businesses operating with a fixed location in Cotonou, Benin, which were randomly allocated between three treatment groups and one control group. One year after the program launch, all versions of the program had significant impact on formalization rates. The impact was 9.1 percentage points in the first treatment group; 13 percentage points in the second group; and 15.8 percentage points in the last group. The program had a higher impact on male business owners, with more education, operating outside Dantokpa Market, in sectors other than trade, and that before being offered the incentives to formalization had characteristics similar to businesses that were already formal. Data from a second follow-up survey, which is expected to take place in March 2016, will explore the impacts on other outcomes, like business performances or access to banking.

The housing finance market in Mali remains small and under developed. Few banks currently offer a full mortgage product with Banque Malienne de Solidarite, Mali Housing Bank (BHM), Bank of Africa, and EcoBank being the main lenders although at minimal levels. The total annual housing need in Mali based on the household formation rate amounts to 82,500, split between 51,100 urban units and 31,400 rural units. Overall some social housing is constructed and support is provided by the state for low income housing through the Office Malienne de l’Habitat (OMH), but the numbers remain small. The Malien authorities have been working to strengthen financial sector stability which includes measures to stabilize the BHM and put it in a position where it begins to fulfill its mandate of providing credit for the housing sector. A strategy was approved by the council of Minister for a strategic disengagement by the state from the share capital of BHM. Initially the agreed plan was for BHM to be privatized. Overall progress in delivery of affordable housing will require a concerted effort among all stakeholders both in public and private sector. This should be supported through establishment of stakeholder coordination group to oversee change across the housing value chain.

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.

This paper empirically examines the determinants of credit at different maturities across European Union countries during the last decade. The paper documents the lengthening of maturities since the early 2000s, and whether these patterns were driven by similar factors in advanced countries and in emerging market countries. Before the 2008 crisis, long-term credit expanded faster than short-term credit in most countries in the sample, and contracted less than short-term credit after 2008. The paper finds that domestic deposits and foreign liabilities were more important sources of funding in emerging market countries than in advanced countries. Moreover, trade openness and initial banking sector depth matter more for emerging market countries than for advanced countries.

Using a new and representative data set of Chinese household finance, this paper documents household access to and costs of finance, along with their correlates. As in most developing countries, informal finance is a crucial element of household finance, and wealth tends to be associated with better access to formal and informal finance. Better financial knowledge shifts loan portfolios toward formal sources relative to informal ones. Connections to the Communist Party are associated with significantly better access to finance in rural areas but not in urban areas. A larger social network is positively associated with access to informal finance. Controlling for household characteristics, rural residents pay interest rates on loans similar to urban residents. Younger residents pay higher rates, while households on firmer economic footing face lower rates. Taking financial classes and college education is associated with higher interest rates for urban residents, suggesting perhaps that financial knowledge coincides with greater demand for credit in areas with more economic opportunity. Overall, the findings suggest that Chinese residents face dual credit markets, with the poor, young, those with poor financial knowledge, and those with larger family sizes relying much more on informal finance, while others are better able to access formal finance.

The 2015 Sustainability Review provides insights into activities undertaken to manage environmental, social, and economic impacts in the World Bank’s internal business operations. The content and data in this document relate to the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and the International Development Association (IDA), together the World Bank.

Growing research and policy interest focuses on the misallocation of output and factors of production in developing economies. This paper considers the possible misallocation of financial loans. Using plant-level data on the organized and unorganized sectors, the paper describes the temporal, geographic, and industry distributions of financial loans. The focus of the analysis is the hypothesis that land misallocation might be an important determinant of financial misallocation (for example, because of the role of land as collateral against loans). Using district-industry variations, the analysis finds evidence to support this hypothesis, although it does not find a total reduction in the intensity of financial loans or those being given to new entrants. The analysis also considers differences by gender of business owners and workers in firms. Although potential early gaps for businesses with substantial female employment have disappeared in the organized sector, a sizeable and persistent gap remains in the unorganized sector.

The Ukrainian government recognizes investing in energy efficiency (EE) as a pillar of its energy sector strategy for reducing reliance on imported natural gas, mitigating the financial and fiscal stresses of high energy costs, and supporting economic recovery and long-term growth. Major government initiatives have been or are being undertaken to scale up EE investments in industries and residential buildings, two of the largest final energy consumers. Efforts to support EE in the public sector also received a boost with the recent enactment of the energy service company (ESCO) law and amendments to the budget code to enable energy performance contracting. The municipal sector - which includes municipal buildings as well as municipal services such as public lighting, district heating, water and sanitation, solid waste, and public transportation - accounts for the lion’s share of final energy consumption in the public sector. Facilitating and scaling up municipal EE finance should be a key component of the government’s national EE support agenda. Creating a dedicated EE revolving fund (EERF) for the public sector - and focusing its initial efforts on financing EE renovation of municipal buildings - will fill a critical gap in municipal EE financing in Ukraine and help address perhaps the most pressing municipal EE investment needs of Ukrainian cities.

Five years into Haiti’s reconstruction following the devastating earthquake of 2010, the country is experiencing an economic and a political transition. Although many challenges brought by the earthquake remain to be fully addressed, Haiti’s focus has shifted from reconstruction to longer term development and to securing a more prosperous future for its people. This World Bank Group (WBG) Country Partnership Framework (CPF) for FY2016-2019 proposes to support Haiti’s efforts to reduce poverty and boost shared prosperity, in line with the priorities of the Government of Haiti. This CPF follows two Interim Strategy Notes (ISNs), which framed the WBG’s significant post-earthquake response over the FY2012-2015 period, financed by an exceptional allocation from the IDA 16 Crisis Response Window (US$500M equivalent). Over this period a substantially expanded WBG program supported reconstruction. However, the program was also designed to continue to help the country address its long term development challenges and capitalize on new opportunities as Haiti gradually transitioned out of the reconstruction phase. Today, a CPF aimed at long-term objectives is appropriate.

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.

The government, buoyed by the law to recapture the real economy, the Florange act, which establishes the possibility of double voting for patient shareholders (who have held their shares at least two years), has just taken two significant decisions by temporarily increasing its holdings in the capital of Renault and Air France in order to ensure that in a general shareholders meeting the double voting option is not rejected by the qualified majority authorized under the law. The objective spelled out by France’s Minister of the Economy in Le Monde is to help “recapture the industrial spirit of capitalism” by favouring long-term commitments in order to promote investment that will foster solid growth. Under the impulse of the Florange law, that has recently introduced the institute of the double voting for ‘patient’ shareholders (shareholders who have held their company’s shares for at least two years), the government has taken the important decision of increasing temporarily its equity shares into two major French companies: Renault and Air France. [First paragraph]

This background note is intended to assist debt management offices (DMOs) in assessing whether a bond placement scheme combining auctions and syndications is an appropriate strategy in their markets and, if so, to assist them in designing the corresponding procedures.

The Pakistani economy faced four major domestic shocks as of April 2015: (i) a political sit-in by opposition parties in Islamabad that lasted between August and December and raised significant political uncertainty; (ii) the September floods in Punjab that affected agricultural crops; (iii) the postponed sale of Oil and Gas Development Company Limited (OGDCL) equity shares in November that reduced its expected privatization proceeds and foreign direct inflows (FDI); and (iv) the terrorist attack in a school in Peshawar that heightened security concerns. However, supported by a favorable slump in international oil prices, and steady implementation of structural reforms by the government, the economy is improving. Preliminary data for the first half of FY15 show growth picking up, driven mainly by strong performance in the agriculture and services sectors. Despite the floods last year, growth improved in the cotton, wheat, and rice crops. The services sector was boosted by transport, storage, communications, finance, and insurance. On the demand side, growth continues to be driven by private consumption partly fuelled by high remittance inflows. Credit to the private sector continued to grow, but slightly less rapidly than last year: as a percentage of GDP, it fell to 13.4 percent in January 2015 compared with 14.1 percent in January 2014. Pakistan is on track to meet a fiscal deficit target of 4.8 percent of GDP in FY15. The newly elected government appears to be committed to fiscal discipline and has made fiscal consolidation the cornerstone of its economic program supported by the IMF, the World Bank and other donors. At present, Pakistan is facing three sources of risk: first is the prospect of an early reversal of the fall in oil prices. Second is the repeat of political events of the first half that keep FDI flows and private investment low; and also affects foreign reserves, privatization program and growth prospects. An uncertain political environment undermines investor confidence and depresses economic activity. Third is the continuation of a troubled domestic energy sector that continues to endure a long-due complex inheritance on its circular debt. Given past trends and the current growth rate, poverty is expected to continue to fall and shared prosperity to improve in this and the next fiscal year. However, a large mass of the population is clustered around the official poverty line, so that small improvements in household real consumption can translate into substantial movement in poverty in either direction.

This report highlights recent economic updates in Bangladesh as of April 2015. Economic growth in Bangladesh was gaining momentum in the first half of FY15. Capacity utilization improved and investments were showing some signs of recovery. This growth was also job-friendly. The 12-monthly-moving average inflation decelerated from 7.6 percent in February 2014 to 6.8 percent in February 2015. The resilience of the Bangladesh economy continues to be tested by faltering political stability, weak global markets, and structural constraints. These are inhibiting the economy s income growth as well as progress on shared prosperity. Despite the emergence of a $1.3 billion deficit in the current account in the first seven months of FY15, the surplus in the overall balance of payments has been sustained, leading to continued accumulation of official foreign exchange reserves to prevent nominal exchange rate appreciation. Reserves are at a comfortable level at over 6 months of imports of goods and services. Fiscal policy has remained consistent with macroeconomic stability. Tax revenue growth has been weaker than targeted while expenditure have also been short due as usual to an implementation shortfall. The projected recovery in global growth, particularly in the United States and the Euro Zone, and continued softness in international commodity prices, bode well for Bangladesh. The country will need to restore political stability and implement faster structural reforms to capitalize on these opportunities. The potential GDP growth rate is on a declining path due to declining labor force growth and stagnant productivity growth, as well as the rate of capital accumulation. Raising the low Female Labor Force Participation (FLFP) rate offers on opportunity to boost the economy s potential growth rate. Moving forward, the biggest challenge remains ensuring durable political stability. This is a precondition for accelerated, inclusive, and sustainable growth.

Economic growth in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) has averaged roughly 5 percent per year over the past decade, improving living standards and bolstering human development indicators across the continent. Stronger public institutions, a supportive, private sector focused policy environment, responsible macroeconomic management, and a sustained commitment to structural reforms have greatly expanded opportunities for countries in SSA to participate in global markets. In recent years, many countries in the region have benefited from an increasingly favorable external environment, high commodity prices, and an especially strong demand for natural resources by emerging economies, particularly China. Over the longer term, leveraging Chinese investment to support broad-based growth will require policies designed to boost the competitiveness of sectors in which China s economic rebalancing may create a comparative advantage for SSA. To date, few African countries have been able to benefit from large-scale Chinese investment outside the resource sector. However, as China s growth slows and its economy shifts toward a more consumption-driven model, it is likely that global demand for resource imports will slow as well. Countries with the most heavily concentrated export mix, particularly in the mineral and oil sectors are the most vulnerable to China s economic rebalancing and should be ready to adopt measures to mitigate the impact of negative terms-of-trade shocks. By contrast, as wage rates in China continue to rise and firms refocus their attention on domestic demand, countries in SSA will be well positioned to exploit emerging opportunities for investment in export-oriented manufacturing. Ethiopia provides an instructive example, as its inexpensive yet relatively skilled labor force, coupled with the government s proactive efforts to court Chinese investors, have enabled Ethiopia to attract substantial investments in labor-intensive industries. Infrastructure enhancement, workforce development, and good-governance reforms offer a promising strategy for many countries in the region. Although the establishment of industrial zones has yielded mixed results, several salient success stories warrant careful attention. This report discusses how Africa could take advantage of the untapped opportunities offered by China s progressively intensifying investment and trade ties with SSA. It is hoped that this analysis will enrich the ongoing dialogue between policy makers, private firms, and civil society regarding China s increasingly important role in the growth and development of Sub-Saharan Africa.

O presente trabalho pretende fornecer subsídio jurídico ao problema social de posses ilegais no Município de São Luís. Faz uma análise comparativa da regularização fundiária prevista nas Leis Federais n. 11.977/09 e 13.465/17, tomando como referência o Município de São Luís. Contudo, antes de utilizá-la, é necessário conhecer os proprietários na área objeto de regularização fundiária para definição dos procedimentos da lei mais recente. Propõe duas soluções para resolver os problemas sociais de moradia: a primeira é a conversão direta de posse em propriedade, sem esperar o tempo de 05 (cinco) anos, contado do registro do título da legitimação de posse e, a segunda, a possibilidade de esse título servir como garantia de financiamento imobiliário, antes da sua conversão em propriedade.Palavras-chave: Posse, propriedade, regularização fundiária, financiamento bancário.

This Fifth Edition of the Uganda Economic Update presents evidence that if the urbanization process is well managed, it has the potential to stimulate economic growth and to provide productive jobs for a greater proportion of Uganda s young and rapidly expanding population. In many countries across the world, the growth of cities has stimulated the establishment and expansion of productive businesses by reducing the distance between suppliers and customers. The growth of cities has also facilitated provision of social services and infrastructure through economies of scale. These positive effects from urbanization are already visible in Uganda since the poverty rate is seven percentage points lower in urban areas than in rural areas. Most of the recent job creation is found in cities, and social indicators are also better in urban areas, especially in education and health. This report conveys the following key messages: (1) over the past 12 years, the number of people living in Uganda s urban areas has been increasing by an average of 300,000 people per year, (2) during the past few decades, similarly rapid rates of urbanization have been recorded in many emerging countries, (3) as is the case in many other developing countries, the prospects of good jobs, higher incomes and better living conditions in the cities continue to attract Ugandans from rural areas, (4) currently, the opportunity presents itself for Uganda to leverage urbanization to benefit a large proportion of the population, and (5) through the implementation of smart policies, Uganda can ensure that its cities are both competitive and livable.