Improving MSMEs access to external financing in low income countries: Is there a role for development cooperation?

This paper presents the salient factors that characterize important aspects of firms' access to external finance. Firm-level data show that micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) face more external financing constraints in Low Income Countries (LICs) than in their rich counterparts. We argue for a catalytic role that development cooperation can play in alleviating these constraints and discuss the critical policy issues as regards the effectiveness of these interventions.