Lack of access to credit is the main problem facing SMEs that provide over 87 per cent of total industrial employment in Bangladesh, according to speakers addressing a seminar organised by the Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI).
Speaking at the seminar, 'Access to Finance for SMEs: Problems and Remedies', Privatisation Commission chairman Enam Ahmed Chaudhury said, "In spite of high interest rate microfinance bodies have emerged as major source of loans in rural areas. If innovation is brought in it can be a good source of funds for SMEs."
"We must get rid of politicisation of bureaucracy to ensure good governance required for sound financial sector. A sound financial sector can ensure product diversification in financial and banking services," he said.
Presiding over the seminar, DCCI President Fazle RM Hasan said acute financing problems in the SME sector retards local investment and industrialisation.
