geo/europe-and-central-asia
The JEREMIE initiative (“Joint European Resources for Micro to Medium Enterprises”) offers EU Member States, through their national or regional Managing Authorities, the opportunity to use part of their European Union (EU) Structural Funds to finance small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) by means of equity, loans or guarantees, through a revolving Holding Fund acting as an umbrella fund.
Private sector development has been one of the top operational priorities of the Facility for Euro-Mediterranean Investment and Partnership (FEMIP) since it was set up in October 2002.
Despite recent signs of renewed growth in the Euro Area core, economic activity remains weak in much of Europe, with risks skewed to the downside. Containing those risks will require finding ways to support small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which account for disproportionately large shares of employment and value added. SMEs have been hit hard by the crisis, however, given their heavy dependence on weakened domestic markets and bank lending that has become both less available and more expensive.
Thorsten Beck, Professor of Banking and Finance at Cass Business School in London, Professor of Economics at Tilburg University in the Netherlands, and Research Fellow at CEPR, explains the bottlenecks that small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) face in accessing much-needed finance despite their importance to economic growth and employment. He also shares lessons learned for financial institutions trying to target this missing middle that often fall in between micro- and bank finance.
The European Commission is dedicated to helping Europe’s small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) overcome the financing problems currently plaguing Europe. This is the inspiration behind a new programme called COSME (Competitiveness of Enterprises and SMEs), which will free up funding for SMEs and help small businesses – the backbone of Europe’s economy – create goods, services and jobs. In an interview with E and I Magazine, Vice-President Antonio Tajani explains what the Commission hopes to achieve with COSME.
EDFI is the Association of 15 bilateral institutions operating in developing and reforming economies, mandated by their governments to
- foster growth in sustainable businesses
- help reduce poverty and improve people's lives
- contribute to achieving the Millennium Development Goals
by promoting economically, environmentally and socially sustainable development through financing and investing in profitable private sector enterprises.
Small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) will drive the recovery in Europe, but they need improved and easy access to finance. Over the last few years the European Commission has been constantly working to improve their situation. This commitment is reiterated in a joint European Commission/European Investment Bank (EIB) Group report published today. At a time when the situation remains difficult, the EIB Group's support for SMEs reached €13 billion in 2012.
This survey round was conducted between 18 February and 21 March 2013, covering a sample of 7,510 firms in the euro area.
Between October 2012 and March 2013, euro area SMEs reported an increase in external financing needs for bank loans (5% of respondents in net terms, i.e. the difference between the percentage of firms reporting an increase and the percentage of those reporting a decrease, unchanged from the previous survey round).
This report presents the main results of the eighth round of the survey on the access to finance of small and medium-sized enterprises in the euro area (SAFE), conducted between 18 February and 21 March 2013 on behalf of the European Central Bank (ECB). The total sample size for the euro area was 7,510 firms, of which 6,960 (93%) had less than 250 employees.1 The report provides evidence mainly on the change in the financial situation, financing needs and access to external financing of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the euro area, compared with large firms.
