This report reflects long-term, in-depth discussion and debate by participants in the Latin American Roundtable on Corporate Governance. It seeks to encourage the emergence of active and informed owners as an important lever for influencing better corporate governance, adapted to the Latin...

This study evaluates the effectiveness of IFC's strategic priority of private sector development in frontier countries (high-risk and/or low-income) by supporting micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) during fiscal years (FY)1994-2006. IFC has channeled its support to MSME's by: i)...

This report is organized into three main sections. Section one sets out the context by describing the particular challenges and opportunities related to financing agriculture, followed by defining the target group of agricultural SME s. Section two describes a set of innovative financing models....

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) play a major role in economic development, particularly in emerging countries. Access to finance remains a key constraint to SME development in emerging economies. Closing the credit gap for formal SMEs will be less daunting than for informal SMEs. The SME...

The percentage of smallholders with access to finance is equally difficult to quantify. According to estimates, even promising approaches to expanding smallholder lending, such as value chain finance, are reaching fewer than 10 percent of smallholders, primarily those in well-established value...

This update considers new findings since the initial Stocktaking report, substantiating the contribution of the private sector, and of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in particular, for new jobs and investment. These findings further illustrate the key role access to finance plays in SMEs...