APEC SME Finance Forum - Leveraging Technologies to scale up Supply Chain Finance in Ho Chi Minh City on September 11.(Source: VNA)HCM City,(VNA) - A financial forum was organised in Ho Chi Minh City on September 11 to seek to enhance access to supply chainfinance for micro, small and medium sized enterprises (MSMEs).
Entitled“Leveraging technologies to scale up supply chain finance”, the forum waspart of the 24th APEC Small and Medium Enterprises Ministerial Meeting, which istaking place in the City from September 10-15.
Entitled“Leveraging technologies to scale up supply chain finance”, the forum waspart of the 24th APEC Small and Medium Enterprises Ministerial Meeting, which istaking place in the City from September 10-15.
Addresingthe event, Nguyen Hoa Cuong, Chair of the APEC SME Working Group of the Ministry ofPlanning and Investment of Vietnam stated that MSMEs are the driving forcebehind a resilient national economy and they involve in global supply chainspromoting international trade. However, those enterprises still find it difficultto get the financing they need, seeing it as a major barrier to their growth.
“Supplychain finance could be the useful way to support the strengthening of MSMEscompetitiveness and innovation and support APEC economies to leverage morecross-border supply chain finance to deepen regional economic integration forMSMEs,” said Cuong.
Traditionalsources of finance for MSMEs have been banks, but it has been very difficultfor MSMEs to access finance through this source, mainly because in most developing countries in the region, they do not have thefinancial infrastructure, said Julius Ceasar Parrenas, Asia-Pacific Financial Forum Coordinator of the APEC Business Advisory Council.
The WorldBank Enterprises Survey 2015 indicated that 57 percent of formal MSMEsdo not have access to loans from formal financial institutions. If informalenterprises are included, the ratio will be higher, reaching approximately between65 and 72 percent.
Ph.D. LeThi Kim Xuan, Head of the Vietnam Banks Association Representative Office in HoChi Minh City, said that in some other economies, MSMEs could seek finance frommonetary funds and the stock market, aside from banks. In Vietnam, finance forMSMEs mainly comes from domestic banks with high interest rate, making thesources more difficult to obtain.
Xuan suggestedthat in order to boost their financial access, local MSMEs should deviseefficient, long-term business strategies and submit financial reports. She noted thatlocal firms also need to improve their management capacity in line with Vietnam’sregulations and international practice.
Technologyapplication plays a major role in promoting MSMEs brand and enhance their management,ensuring their operation and flow of products in the digital economy, she added.
MSMEsaccount for over 97 percent of all enterprises and employ over half of theworkforce across APEC economies. MSMEs contribute significantly to economicgrowth, accounting for between 20 percent and 50 percent of GDP in mostAPEC economies. However, they account for only 35 percent or less of directexports.
Established in 1989, APEC comprises 21 economies, with Vietnam joining in1998. In Vietnam, SMEs employ more than 50 percent of the workforce andcontribute over 40 percent of the GDP.-VNA
“Supplychain finance could be the useful way to support the strengthening of MSMEscompetitiveness and innovation and support APEC economies to leverage morecross-border supply chain finance to deepen regional economic integration forMSMEs,” said Cuong.
Traditionalsources of finance for MSMEs have been banks, but it has been very difficultfor MSMEs to access finance through this source, mainly because in most developing countries in the region, they do not have thefinancial infrastructure, said Julius Ceasar Parrenas, Asia-Pacific Financial Forum Coordinator of the APEC Business Advisory Council.
The WorldBank Enterprises Survey 2015 indicated that 57 percent of formal MSMEsdo not have access to loans from formal financial institutions. If informalenterprises are included, the ratio will be higher, reaching approximately between65 and 72 percent.
Ph.D. LeThi Kim Xuan, Head of the Vietnam Banks Association Representative Office in HoChi Minh City, said that in some other economies, MSMEs could seek finance frommonetary funds and the stock market, aside from banks. In Vietnam, finance forMSMEs mainly comes from domestic banks with high interest rate, making thesources more difficult to obtain.
Xuan suggestedthat in order to boost their financial access, local MSMEs should deviseefficient, long-term business strategies and submit financial reports. She noted thatlocal firms also need to improve their management capacity in line with Vietnam’sregulations and international practice.
Technologyapplication plays a major role in promoting MSMEs brand and enhance their management,ensuring their operation and flow of products in the digital economy, she added.
MSMEsaccount for over 97 percent of all enterprises and employ over half of theworkforce across APEC economies. MSMEs contribute significantly to economicgrowth, accounting for between 20 percent and 50 percent of GDP in mostAPEC economies. However, they account for only 35 percent or less of directexports.
Established in 1989, APEC comprises 21 economies, with Vietnam joining in1998. In Vietnam, SMEs employ more than 50 percent of the workforce andcontribute over 40 percent of the GDP.-VNA
VNA
