OECD Financing SMEs and Entrepreneurs Scoreboard: 2023 Highlights

The "OECD Financing SMEs and Entrepreneurs Scoreboard: 2023 Highlights" document SME and entrepreneurship financing trends, conditions and policy developments. The report provides official data on SME financing in close to 50 countries, including indicators on debt, equity, asset-based finance and financing conditions. Data for 2021 are complemented by available information for 2022, along with demand-side information and recent developments in public policy and private initiatives to support SME finance. Findings reveal that most economies showed the beginnings of a dynamic recovery from the COVID-19 crisis in 2021. However, data available for 2022 point to a deterioration in a number of SME finance indicators, due to high inflation and rising interest rates, exacerbated by the effects of Russia's war against Ukraine. These factors are impacting the accessibility and cost of debt finance for SMEs, and foreshadow a slowdown in lending. Likewise, equity finance showed a significant decline in 2022. In this context, governments should continue to foster the diversification of SME financing instruments and channels to enable them to build resilience and undertake crucial investments, such as those in digitalisation and greening.