Europe and Central Asia

New measures are needed to encourage high growth small and medium-sized entities (SMEs) to seek funding to expand, a report has found.

The members of European Development Finance Institutions (EDFI) have jointly commissioned an evaluation of the effectiveness of EDFI members’ support for SME development through financial institutions in Africa.

This analysis provides an overview of the main markets relevant to EIF. We start by discussing the general market environment for SME finance, then look at the main aspects of equity finance and the SME guarantees / securitisation markets. Finally, we briefly highlight important aspects of microfinance in Europe.

The European Investment Bank (EIB) continues its strong commitment to small and medium sized enterprises (SME) in the European Union. The EIB’s Board approved a EU programme allowing the EIB to speed up classical lending operations in the SME sector. The volume of the programme will amount to EUR 2 billion in the second quarter of 2014.

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