Abstract/Summary

Existing evidence has shown that SMEs make great contributions to innovation, job creation and economic growth. This chapter reviews recent literature on (1) the important roles played by SMEs in emerging markets and (2) the impacts of financial development on SME finance in such markets. It also uses a unique database form World Bank Enterprise Survey (WBES) to document the financing patterns, constraints and other financial issues of SMEs in emerging markets. The descriptive statistics derived from WBES show clear variations of SME financing patterns between emerging and developed markets and shed light on the important role played by financial development in financing SMEs.