Up to 60% of small businesses in the Asia-Pacific region do not have access to credit, making them unable to meet the demands of buyers, according to experts that convened recently in Lima, Peru.
Corporations, or buyers, often deal with a diverse group of suppliers that include small businesses, thereby providing business opportunities and impetus to growth.
“Small businesses are a major driver of the region’s economic growth and provide four out of five new jobs especially in emerging economies. However, up to 60% of SMEs do not have access to financing, thus hampering their growth,” they said.
“Ninety-seven per cent of the Asia-Pacific region enterprises are considered small-to-medium in scale. This is a huge economic potential that needs to be tapped,” said APEC Economic Committee Chair Rory McLeod.
The key is implementing secured transaction reforms to enable the integration of small businesses into global value chains.
“If supply chain financing and reforms to secure transaction get more widely adopted, this will help address the financing gap,” McLeod added.
“Secured transaction is the single most important thing to help small business get around the challenge of accessing financing support,” said Mike Dennis of the Office of the Legal Adviser of the U.S. Department of State.
Secure platforms make businesses want to transact electronically and across borders, opening them up to a wider number of suppliers, said the experts.
“This confidence comes from the assurance that the process of changing money and goods or services by using secure channels minimizes risk through the whole supply chain.”
One of the goals of the APEC Economic Committee is to promote the value chain participation of more segments of society, including small businesses, women, youth, older workers, and people with disabilities.
Addressing this issue is one of the many ways in which APEC advances measures to widen options for financing for SMEs.
It is also consistent with APEC’s structural reform goals recognizing the importance of developing legal instruments covering business transactions within and beyond borders.
Taken together, all these contribute to the creation of a more conducive climate for cross-border trade and investment thereby facilitating economic growth.
Photo: Sapfan
