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Turkey - Improving Conditions for SME Growth Finance and InnovationFacilitating the growth of Small- and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) is central to creating jobs for an underutilized and growing labor force in Turkey as SMEs account for 79 percent of jobs in Turkey. Creating jobs for Turkey's unemployed and for the rapidly growing labor force, though partly a social challenge, is an important economic opportunity. Turkish SME growth performance and productivity is currently poor, and these related challenges must be simultaneously addressed. First, Turkish SMEs grow slower than both large enterprises in Turkey and SMEs in comparator countries. Second, not only are SMEs in Turkey less productive than larger firms, but the gap across firm size is larger in Turkey than in other countries. Although growth and productivity may be affected by different aspects of the business environment, productivity is needed for firms to be competitive and thus be able to sustain growth in the long term. Therefore, growth and productivity must be simultaneously addressed to enable the sustainable creation of well paying jobs. The two main priorities for SMEs are: a) access to finance, and b) the ability to adopt and use technology and to innovate, and this report addresses these topics. The main constraint for the growth of SMEs is access to finance, and new microeconomic evidence shows that the development of medium term finance contributes significantly to SME performance in terms of employment, sales, and investment. Specific interventions in the form of credit guarantees and credit line financing of financial institutions dedicated to support SME financial products have been used to speed up the development of the SME medium term credit market, and they may continue to play a role.
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SME Contributions to Employment, Job Creation, and Growth in the Arab WorldRecent economic and political developments have highlighted a challenge shared across the Arab region of generating employment, promoting inclusive growth, and improving competitiveness. In the short run, weakened macroeconomic fundamentals in the developing economies of the Middle East and North Africa are a key challenge. The region's main challenge is to achieve sustainable growth that delivers the quantity and quality of jobs needed. An inclusive and competitive private sector has proven to be one of the most effective and long-term solutions for this challenge. This paper provides an analytical framework to diagnose and identify key challenges to the growth of small and medium enterprises that is supported by a quantitative model based on the World Bank's Enterprise Surveys database. The findings reconfirm that the route to a sustained role for small and medium enterprises in job creation requires improving the credibility of reforms, the effectiveness of policies, and equitable enforcement. Although one size fits all is infeasible for Arab countries, it is important to design policies across sectors to create productive employment and promote economic growth. Supporting innovation and enhancing access to finance are central to the development agenda for small and medium enterprises. And creating an enabling environment and setting up accountable institutions are key to ensure equal opportunity and inclusive growth.
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Sierra Leone - Investment Climate Policy NoteThis Investment Climate Policy Note (ICPN) for Sierra Leone evaluates the country's business environment by: (i) analyzing barriers to private sector investment and growth and how they vary among different types of firms; (ii) benchmarking Sierra Leone's investment climate and firm performance to that of other countries; and (iii) providing recommendations to promote and strengthen the private sector. The ICPN is supported by the statistical analysis of a 2009 enterprise survey of 150 formal, manufacturing and service firms with five or more employees based in Western Area/Freetown and Kenema, two of Sierra Leone's major urban centers. The ICPN is organized as follows. Chapter one provides context for Sierra Leone's business environment. Chapter two discusses the performance of Sierra Leone firms, with a focus on labor productivity. Chapter three examines how investment climate constraints cost businesses money and time, discusses main bottlenecks to conducting business as identified by managers of Sierra Leone firms, and reviews obstacles related to electricity supply, tax rates, informality, corruption and access to land. Chapter four analyzes data on how firms access and use finance, and chapter five discusses exports and internationalization in Sierra Leone. Chapter six concludes and provides policy options to improve the investment climate.