Author: United Nations
Publisher: UN
ISBN: 9789211208290
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 0
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Book Description
MSMEs are an important engine of economic growth and development due to their large share in total employment and their participation in production value chains and trade. However, they are often disadvantaged due to their small operational size and lack of financial resources, skills/knowledge, and outreach. These disadvantages are associated with: poor access to markets; low bargaining power with customers and suppliers leading to low product prices, high costs and lower profits; weak organizational capacities and low-skilled human resources; inadequate institutional support and networking; and difficulty accessing finance. With regard to the last point, governments and related agencies have devised mechanisms in recent decades to facilitate improved flows of finance to MSMEs, but many challenges remain. As this publication addresses, MSMEs are particularly vulnerable to the socio-economic crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the policy responses enacted, and they require supportive policy measures from state agencies to cope. Indeed, the virus has helped expose those vulnerabilities, as MSMEs typically lack the additional resilience that comes from operating at scale, nor do they have diversified business models that make it easier to pivot. Yet the virus itself did not actually cause the unprecedented economic downturn; rather, governments strategically shut down their economies in order to battle the virus more effectively, rightly placing public health above economic well-being. The resulting economic crisis has thus been deliberately induced by policy-makers - a somewhat new phenomenon.
Author:
Publisher:
ISBN: 9789210058322
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :
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Book Description
Author: Edoardo Monaco
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 9819736293
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 327
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Book Description
Author: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Publisher: Food & Agriculture Org.
ISBN: 9251380260
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 216
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Book Description
Agrifood systems in Asia and the Pacific can be strengthened by tapping on agrifood-tourism linkages. When tourism and agrifood systems interact, both synergies and competition appear. Agriculture and tourism compete between themselves and other sectors for land, water, labour, capital, and transport and logistics services. Cross-sectoral synergies arise when agriculture and tourism influence each other through their respective demand conditions and changes in the enabling environment. These cross-sectoral synergies can be instrumental in strengthening agrifood systems in the region and addressing interlinked crises in the post-pandemic era.Governments across Asia and the Pacific have acknowledged the potential of tapping into agrifood- tourism linkages to advance sustainable development in both urban (food tourism) and rural areas (mostly agricultural tourism), and are implementing efforts to develop this subsector.Agrifood-tourism linkages can create income-generating opportunities for farmers and tourism operators, boost employment and stimulate overall economic growth, promote the development of sustainable agrifood systems, prevent rural youth outmigration and help preserve culinary and agricultural heritage.This publication guides policymakers in the region in the preparation of a strategic plan aimed at developing agrifood tourism and the tourism food value chain as drivers of sustainable development. The successful positioning of a country or location as a culinary or agricultural tourism destination and the creation of synergies between the agriculture and tourism sectors requires a shared vision and coordination between policymakers, destination managers, tourism and agrifood businesses, chefs, farmers and other key stakeholders.
Author: Bakhtiar, M. Mehrab
Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst
ISBN:
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 16
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Book Description
The economy of Bangladesh is largely defined by the agricultural sector, which is reflected in its yearly GDP contribution of approximately 11% in the past few years (World Bank, 2022). The sector holds po tential for even higher contributions to the economy, provided effective initiatives related to financial in clusion and logistical innovations are implemented. Even during the immense global challenges during to the Covid-19 pandemic, the country’s agricultural sector persisted. Improving on traditional initiatives and practices to address constraints faced by farmers and other agricultural value chain actors will ena ble the sector to expand and benefit new sections of the population, including those most vulnerable such as the poor, women, and youth. Many of the recent innovations in the agricultural sector in Bangladesh have been initiated by ‘AgriTech’ companies/start-ups in the space of financial and logistical services. Financial services are available for both small and large-scale agriculture operations in the country. Besides innovations in fi nancial services, there has been a burgeoning list of logistical services as well. Utilizing this wave of innovations appropriately can help the agricultural sector reach its full potential for success. This report is arranged in the following manner. First section 1 discusses the traditional services in fi nancial and logistic sectors, and then section 2 discusses the existing constraints in both sectors. Sec tions 3 and 4 go into detail on financial and logistical innovations respectively that aim at addressing the discussed constraints. Both sections 3 and 4 have subsections giving a brief description of organiza tions that are behind these innovations.
Author: Ms.Elena Loukoianova
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
ISBN: 1484371011
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 139
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Book Description
Asia has made significant progress in financial inclusion, but both its across-country and intra-country disparities are among the highest in the world. The gaps between the rich and the poor, rural and urban populations, and men and women remain deep. Income is the main determinant of the level of financial inclusion; but other factors, such as geography, financial sector structure, and policies, also play important roles. While some countries in the Asia-Pacific region are leaders in fintech, on average the region lags behind others in several important areas such as online (internet) purchases, electronic payments, mobile money, and mobile government transfers. This Departmental Paper aims to take stock of the development and current state of financial inclusion and shed light on policies to advance financial inclusion in the region. The research focuses on the impact of financial inclusion on economic growth, poverty reduction, and inequality, linkages between financial inclusion and macroeconomic policies, as well as structural policies that are important for improving financial inclusion. Given the increasing importance of financial technologies (fintech), the paper also provides a snapshot of the fintech landscape in the Asia-Pacific.
Author: Asian Development Bank
Publisher: Asian Development Bank
ISBN: 9292697080
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 92
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Book Description
A persistently large trade finance gap is an ongoing global challenge, particularly for small and medium-sized enterprises, which continue to face significant barriers to access financing. This report reflects on the Trade Finance Gaps, Growth, and Jobs Survey conducted by the Asian Development Bank since 2012. It provides insights on trade finance trends, analysis, and lessons from the past 10 years and identifies what needs to happen to make access to trade finance more inclusive. The report discusses the rapid digitalization in trade and trade finance markets and advocates for increased international cooperation to enable the full benefits of digitization to be realized.
Author: Adolfo Barajas
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781513553009
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 51
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Book Description
The past two decades have seen a rapid increase in interest in financial inclusion, both from policymakers and researchers. This paper surveys the main findings from the literature, documenting the trends over time and gaps that have arisen across regions, income levels, and gender, among others. It points out that structural, as well as policy-related, factors, such as encouraging banking competition or channeling government payments through bank accounts, play an important role, and describes the potential macro and microeconomic benefits that can be derived from greater financial inclusion. It argues that policy should aim to identify and reduce frictions holding back financial inclusion, rather than targeting specific levels of inclusion. Finally, it suggests areas for future research.
Author: World Bank
Publisher: World Bank Publications
ISBN: 1464803773
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 261
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Book Description
The World Bank Group promotes small and medium enterprise (SME) growth through both systemic and targeted interventions. Targeting means focusing benefits on one size-class of firms to the exclusion of others. Targeted support for SMEs is a big business for the World Bank Group, averaging around $3 billion a year in commitments, expenditures, and gross exposure over the 2006-12 period. In the context of broader reforms, such targeted support can be a powerful tool. Targeting SMEs is not an end in itself, but a means to create economies that can employ more people and create more opportunity for citizens to achieve prosperity. A thriving and growing SME sector is associated with rapidly growing economies. A central challenge is to level the economic playing field by ensuring dynamic markets; strengthening market-support institutions; and removing constraints to participation. IEG found that financial sector development can have both a pro-growth and pro-poor impact by alleviating SMEs' financing constraints, enabling new entry of firms and entrepreneurs and better resource allocation. Layered on top of this are targeted forms of assistance; these interventions may build on a foundation of more systemic reforms, may come in tandem with them, or may in fact be a means to build systemic reforms from the bottom up. Any credible justification of targeted support to SMEs must be focused on establishing well-functioning markets and institutions, not simply providing a temporary supply of benefits to a small group of firms during a project's lifespan. Thus, targeted interventions need to leverage resources to produce broader benefits for institutions and markets. To make targeted support for SMEs more effective, the World Bank Group needs to do several things: Clarify its approach to targeted support to SMEs; Enhance the support's relevance and additionality; Institute a tailored research agenda; Strengthen guidance and quality control for such support; Reform MIGA s Small Investment Program.
Author: OECD
Publisher: OECD Publishing
ISBN: 9264305327
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 494
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Book Description
The SME Policy Index is a benchmarking tool for emerging economies to monitor and evaluate progress in policies that support small and medium-sized enterprises.
