英语翻译

Thereisgrowingrecognitionoftheimportanceofsmallandmedium-sizedenterprises

(SMEs)toeconomicdevelopment.Inmanycountries,SMEsmakeupthe

majorityofbusinessesandaccountforthehighestproportionofemployment.The

economicandsocialcontributionsofSMEssuggestthatitisinthepublicinterest

forSMEstothrive(FisherandReuber2000).However,SMEsoftenhavedifficulty

financingtheiroperations.Biekpe(2004)arguesthatmostsmallbusinesses,

especiallyinsub-SaharanAfrica,failintheirfirstyearduetolackofsupportfrom

governmentandtraditionalbanks.

Priorresearchhasnotedthatbanksareamajorsourceofexternalcapitalfor

smallfirms(seeColeandWolken1995;PetersenandRajan1994;Scherretal.

1993).However,smallfirmsfinditmoredifficulttoobtainbankloansthandolargefirms(Orseretal.1994;PetersonandSchulman1987).Binksetal.(1992)

cautionthatsmallbusinesses’restrictedaccesstobankdebtmaynotbedirectly

attributabletotheirsize,butrathertoproblemsassociatedwiththeavailabilityof

informationusedtoevaluateaproject,orinformationasymmetry.Banksgenerally

preferborrowerswithgoodtrackrecordsofprofitability,somedegreeoflongevity,

longer-termbankingrelationships,andassetsthatcanbeusedascollateral(Berger

andUdell1995;ColeandWolken1995;EnnewandBinks1995;Weinberg1994),

andtheyemploycertainstrategiestominimizetherisksindealingwithpotential

loanborrowers.Toreflectthegreateruncertaintyofrepayment,banksmayraise

theinterestratesonloanstoriskierborrowers,suchassmallbusinesses(Berger

andUdell1995).