Despite its importance for development, long-term finance is particularly scarce in countries with lower income levels. This not only results in unrealised growth and employment creation at the national level and at the level of individual firms, but also undermines a broader shift towards...

The demand for digital financial services has risen significantly over recent years. The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated this trend and since the focus has shifted towards economic recovery, digital lending has become central. Digital credit products exploit traditional and alternative...

SMEs are key to development, as they provide livelihoods and jobs for the majority of people in LMICs. Yet, their development is often hampered by constrained access to finance. SMEs mostly depend on bank loans for external finance. However, these have been insufficient to overcome SMEs'...