Asia's bank-centered financial systems require the reduced supply-demand gap in lending as a core policy pillar to improve small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) access to finance. Meanwhile, the diversification of financing modalities beyond conventional bank lending is another key policy...

Most micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) operate informally. While informal sectors are thought to contribute less to national economic development, MSMEs are a driving force behind national economic growth. Thus, formalizing informal MSMEs is critical to boosting national...

The Russian invasion of Ukraine disrupted a V-shaped economic post-pandemic recovery in Central and West Asia. It affected global supply chains and slowed the region's growth momentum while adding inflationary pressures. Private businesses were adversely affected by the impact of the invasion...

The novel coronavirus disease, COVID-19, has brought significant change to people’s lives and business activities nationally, regionally, and globally. The Philippines took swift action—including enhanced community quarantine (ECQ)—to contain the pandemic and launched an emergency subsidy...

The novel coronavirus disease, COVID-19, has brought significant change to people's lives and business activities nationally, regionally, and globally. The Philippines took swift action-including enhanced community quarantine (ECQ)-to contain the pandemic and launched an emergency subsidy...

Most micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) operate informally. While informal sectors are thought to contribute less to national economic development, MSMEs are a driving force behind national economic growth. Thus, formalizing informal MSMEs is critical to boosting national...

Limited data on micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) make it difficult for governments to design appropriate MSME policies in Asia and the Pacific. To identify factors affecting MSME development and promote evidence-based policymaking, we propose a probabilistic principal component...

The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic disrupted businesses, economies, and societies worldwide. This study employs unique data from Indonesia to investigate whether and how digitalization of micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) helped them weather the adverse shocks from the...