Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) play a significant role in Asian economies as they contribute to high shares of employment and output. However, SMEs generally have limited access to finance compared to large enterprises. Given the bank-dominated financial systems in Asia, banks are the...

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have difficulties in accessing finance because of information asymmetry and a lack of collateral. A credit guarantee scheme is a suitable method to unlock lending to SMEs; however, it involves SMEs paying a fee, which needs to account for their risk. The...

Financial inclusion (FI) for vulnerable populations, such as women, is critical for achieving gender equality, women's empowerment, and thereby inclusive growth. In this regard, the use of digital financial services is of particular significance for women as it allows them easier access to...

Financial inclusion is receiving increasing attention for its potential to contribute to economic and financial development while fostering more inclusive growth and greater income equality. Although substantial progress has been made, there is still much to achieve. East Asia, the Pacific, and...

Within a patriarchal society, women are placed in a precarious societal positioning that leads to a prevalence of gender inequality in education, financial literacy, and access to finance. In the context of Asia, where small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are the backbone of most Asian...

The paper discusses state, regulative framework, and recent developments in leveraging access to finance for micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in the Kyrgyz Republic through global value chain (GVC) examples in the Kyrgyz Republic. Access to finance in the Kyrgyz Republic is...

Efforts of various international institutions have supported implementation of national/regional single windows and the next logical step would be to internationalize and make them interoperable to allow for greater collaborative information sharing. The purpose of this paper is to review the...

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are the backbone of the Asian economy. They make up more than 98% of all Asian businesses that provide two out of three private sector jobs in the region. Therefore, it is vitally important for Asia's economic success to have fully functioning support...

This paper discusses the status of financial inclusion, education, and literacy in Azerbaijan as well as measures to foster the development of SMEs, which currently have inadequate access to financial resources. The primary policy challenge faced by the government of Azerbaijan is defining its...

Micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) play a significant role in the Indonesian economy, however most MSMEs have difficulties in accessing finance. The Credit Guarantee Scheme (CGS) is a popular program for guaranteeing bank lending to MSMEs by the government. The objective of this...