Opportunities and constraints in financing SMEs

Abstract

The enterprise is the most important component of the economy and of the society as well. The paper studies the weights of SME sector in different countries, focusing on topical operational issues for financing SMEs. In Romania, these are mainly shareholders’ credits; own resources, loans, European Union or EBRD funds, etc. Some analysts consider that the growth of SMEs is impeded by an insufficient supply of capital. In Romania as in other states, the public authorities have interceded to fill this equity gap by increasing the supply of funds. Furthermore, managerial opinions concerning the obstacles faced by their firms reveal some potential growth factors for SMEs: the size of loans, the amount of reinvested profit, well-educated human resources and technical assistance, all critical to the success of SME’s in exploiting, indeed surviving, the rapid globalization of markets.