• Economics:
• Finance and Debt:
• International Finance, Capital Markets and Small States:
• Lowering the Threshold

Lowering the Threshold

Regional Meetings

Africa

In South Africa, the meeting reviewed how to unlock finance for SMEs in Southern and Eastern Africa (outside of South Africa). The Secretariat focuses on the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region, by encouraging mainly South African banks to extend long-term credit for projects that are the "threshold" of profitability by looking for ways to better use ODA and technical assistance to reduce the risks of lending for SMEs. (Six out of fourteen member SADC countries are Commonwealth small states. These are Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Namibia, and Swaziland.)

Caribbean

A meeting was also held in the Caribbean. The aim of the meeting was to assist in the development and design of a financing facility for the Caribbean region, providing long-term finance for local banks to on-lend for productive investment in the SME sector. Deliberations were also intended to help provide thought leadership on unlocking finance to SMEs in other parts of the Commonwealth.

Pacific

Another meeting is due to be held in May 2006 in Suva, Fiji. This will be designed to offer the opportunity to participants, which include domestic commercial banks, development partners and policy-makers, to review and discuss how existing investment instruments and policies can be strengthened to respond, more closely, to the needs of the local entrepreneurs and local financial sector.