Is it the institutions or firm characteristics at birth that shape startups and their early growth in developing countries? Using comprehensive data from the Indian Annual Survey of Industries this paper addresses this question by studying the early lifecycle of firms across diverse...

This paper examines how the ability to access long-term debt affects firm-level growth volatility. The analysis finds that firms in industries with stronger preference to use long-term finance relative to short-term finance experience lower growth volatility in countries with better-developed...

As in most economies, micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in emerging markets are widely believed to be the engine of growth across. Over the last decade, many researchers and academics have tried to analyze the issue of MSME access to finance, emphasizing their dependence on credit and...

Ghana has low levels of financial inclusion of individuals and access to finance for firms remains a major challenge; some of the key issues include low ownership and usage of accounts, dominance of cash, limited access points, limited electronic and mobile transactions, and high collateral,...

Jim Yong Kim, President of the World Bank Group, spoke about the forces in the world that are making us fundamentally rethink the approach to development at the World Bank Group. He described three paths. The first path is to accelerate inclusive and sustainable economic growth, by laying the...

During the past decades, firms from emerging economies have significantly increased the amount of financing obtained in capital markets. Whereas the literature argues that international markets have been an important contributor to this process, the role of domestic markets is mostly unknown. By...

The development of micro, small, and medium-size enterprises (SME) in Russia is a priority of the Russian government, which emphasizes the need of improving SME access to finance, along with other critical factors for SME growth. The objective of this policy note is to inform the Russian...

The Vietnamese economy has done well in 2019. In the context of increasing global uncertainty,Vietnam will most certainly be among the fastest growing economies in the world, with a GDP growth rate of approximately 6.8 percent. This rate is almost three times faster than the world average (2.6...

This report provides an overview of the demand and supply side of MSME finance as well as certain aspects of the enabling environment. A detailed analysis of the financial sector infrastructure for MSME financing and the secured transactions framework was outside of the scope of this report but...