Development and Access to Finance of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises in Mongolia

Abstract

This chapter presents a recent survey on the development and accessibility for finance of small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs) in Mongolia. The survey covers a sample of 1922 SMEs from Ulaanbaatar, the capital city, and 21 provinces. We find that banks and local government administrations are the most supportive institutions for SME development. Political instability, corruption, and labour supply, a high lending rate, short maturity loans, and service fees are perceived as the major obstacles that SMEs face in the business environment. Our results also suggest that SMEs in Mongolia are less likely to have access to external finance because of tight credit condition, potentially explaining the lack of SME growth. Implementing country-specific reform strategy for SME development covering key building blocks is needed to promote SME financial inclusion and facilitate SMEs to contribute to the economic growth.