March 12, 2015. The Round Table on the theme of “Ways to improve access to financial resources” was held by the Entrepreneurship Development Foundation and Support for Economic Initiatives Public Union in the conference room of the National Confederation of Entrepreneurs (Employers’) Organizations of Azerbaijan Republic within the framework of “Micro-Enterprise Support” Project implemented by the Entrepreneurship Development Foundation with the financial support of USAID. Entrepreneurs, representatives of various companies, and public unions and experts attended the round table.
The first speaker Mr. Rovshan Agayev informed roundtable participants about support mechanisms for small business loans for SMEs and risk factors. He said that they studied the international experience in this field and achieved significant results. According to Mr. Rovshan Agayev, during their activity period, 77 % of SMEs in the US applied for loans at least once, and 80 out of 100 entrepreneurs achieved to take out a loan. Then he mentioned the importance of credit guarantee funds and noted that 2000 credit guarantee funds are operating in developed countries. Credit guarantee funds are not available in Azerbaijan yet. Rovshan Agayev said that credit guarantee funds do not just guarantee loans, at the same time they organize consulting services to entrepreneurs and help them with risk management. He also stated that the rate of applying for loans for SMEs in Azerbaijan is very low.
Then expert Mr. Samir Aliyev made a presentation on the theme of "Increase access to finance for small and medium-sized enterprises in Azerbaijan". He noted that the survey has been conducted on this theme, and according to the results of the survey, 1 out of 5 entrepreneurs said they faced problems accessing financial resources. They also found out that only a small part of the small and medium-sized enterprises use external financial resources. Mr. Samir Aliyev also stated that, according to the "Doing Business" report, the indicator of Azerbaijan related to loan obtaining deteriorated in recent years.
The survey also revealed that 90% of small and medium-sized enterprises suffer from high-interest rates.
