The OECD's 2022 Scoreboard on financing SMEs and entrepreneurs provides an analysis of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on SME financing across 48 countries, highlighting trends in lending, bankruptcies, and government support measures. While new lending saw mixed growth rates, overall conditions remained favorable for SMEs due to government-backed credit guarantees and low interest rates. Moving forward, the report emphasizes the importance of monitoring SME access to finance and addressing high debt levels as support mechanisms are phased out.

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FINANCING SMES AND ENTREPRENEURS 2022:
AN OECD SCOREBOARD
29 March 2022

2. © OECD | Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities | @OECD_Local |
Overview
2
1. The Scoreboard in a nutshell
2. How did SME finance weather the COVID-19 crisis?
3. Will recovery packages boost SME finance?
4. Policy implications and the way forward

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The SME and entrepreneurship finance
Scoreboard
3
• Biennial flagship publication that aims to improve the
evidence base on SME and entrepreneurship finance
• Provides comparable data on debt, credit costs and
conditions, asset-based and equity financing, bankruptcies
and late payments
• Highlights key trends in SME finance policy in 48 countries
• Official data from ministries, central banks, statistical
offices, and sector organisations

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How did SME finance
weather the COVID-19
crisis?

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The global environment has been – and remains -
challenging
5
• Global GDP declined by 3.5% in 2020 and
rebounded to 5.6% in 2021. The war in
Ukraine could slow global growth in 2022 by
1% according to current estimates.
• Interest rates are expected to rise 2½
percentage points in 2022 to combat
inflation.
• Recovery expectations diverge strongly
across countries, with middle income and
Eastern European countries taking more
time to recover.
Source: OECD Interim Economic Outlook, March 2022.
Simulated impact on GDP and inflation
2022, GDP expressed in percentage change and Inflation in percentage points, difference from
baseline

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SMEs were particularly hard hit and often turned
to credit
6
Median growth rate in the outstanding stock of SME lending
2008-2020, y-o-y growth, as a percentage
Note: Countries are categorized according to the World Bank country classification by income level.
Source: Data compiled from the individual country profiles.
-10
-5
0
5
10
15
2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020
Scoreboard EU High income Upper middle income
• In 2020, the outstanding stock
of SME loans increased by 4.9%
compared to an average annual
increase of 1.2% in the previous
5 years.
• The rise is explained by large-
scale use of debt moratoria and
support for lending.
• NPLs were also a factor in some
countries.

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New SME lending showed divergent trends
across countries
7
New SME loans, growth rates by country
2019 – 2020, y-o-y growth, as a percentage
Note: All data are adjusted for inflation using the OECD GDP deflator (2007 base year). Data for non-OECD countries were extracted from
the World Development Indicators from the World Bank.
Source: Data compiled from the individual country profiles.
-60
-40
-20
0
20
40
60
2020 2019 180
• In 2020, new lending increased
in half of the Scoreboard
countries.
• In some countries, the liquidity
constraints of SMEs in highly
impacted sectors resulted in
high demand of new loans.
• In others, alternative liquidity
support measures displaced
new lending.

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Overall, credit conditions were advantageous for
SMEs during the pandemic
SME interest rates, growth rate by country
2019 – 2020, Nominal rates, percentage points
Note: All data are adjusted for inflation using the OECD GDP deflator (2007 base year). Data for non-OECD countries were extracted
from the World Development Indicators from the World Bank
Source: Data compiled from the individual country profiles.
-4
-3
-2
-1
0
1
2
3
2020 2019
-19 -5
• In 2020, interest rates declined
in 34 out of 42 countries.
• In the remaining 8 countries, the
increase is less than 1
percentage point.
• This decline reflects monetary
policy interventions, as well as
the significant recourse to
government-subsidized lending

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Lending was strongly supported by government
use of guarantees in 2020
9
Government loan guarantees
2008-2020, y-o-y growth, as a percentage
Source: Data compiled from the individual country profiles.
-30
-10
10
30
50
70
90
110
130
150
2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020
Scoreboard High income Upper middle income OECD EU
159
• Credit guarantees were used in
all 27 countries providing data
for this indicator.
• The Scoreboard median
increased by 110% in 2020
(compared to an increase of
0.32% in 2019).

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Bankruptcy rates declined in the majority of
countries
10
SME bankruptcies, growth rate by country
2019 – 2020, y-o-y, as a percentage
Source: Data compiled from the individual country profiles.
-60
-40
-20
0
20
40
60
80
2020 2019 368.6
• In 2020, public support
measures contributed to a sharp
decline in bankruptcies.
• This indicator declined in 26 out
of 32 Scoreboard countries.
• The median bankruptcy rate
declined by 11.7%, a decline
never registered before in the
history of the Scoreboard.

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Trends in alternative sources
of finance

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Asset-based financing declined in 2020, in part due
to substitution effects
12
Leasing and hire purchases growth by country
2019 – 2020, y-o-y growth, as a percentage
Source: Data from Austria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Italy, Slovenia, Slovak Republic, Norway and Poland is compiled from
Leaseurope Annual Statistics 2021; the data for other countries is compiled from the individual country profiles.
-40
-30
-20
-10
0
10
20
30
40
2020 2019
• In 2020, 21 out of 27 countries
registered a decline in leasing
activities, the highest number of
Scoreboard countries registering
a decline since 2009.
• Weaker demand for new leasing
services, and lower payment
capacity on leases affected
leasing activities.
• Factoring activities also fell by
16.27%.

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Equity financing was resilient, growing in both 2020
and 2021, with some fluctuation in early stage financing
13
Venture capital investments, growth rate by country
2019 – 2020, y-o-y growth, as a percentage
Source: OECD Entrepreneurship at a Glance, and data compiled from the individual country profiles when the information
was not otherwise provided.
• Half of the countries that
provided data for this indicator
registered positive growth in
2020.
• Seed and early stage capital
experienced a decline in 2020
while later stages increased.
• However, in 2021, early stage VC
rebounded.
-105
-55
-5
45
95
145
195
2020 2019
428

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Will recovery packages
boost SME financing?

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SMEs are a less explicit focus in recovery packages…
15
Source: Global Recovery Observatory (O’Callaghan, 2020[47])
Share of SME related policies in the total value
announced in rescue and recovery packages
March 2020 to October 2021, value announced for policies in USD
billions and as a percentage
• The SME orientation in COVID-19 policy
responses declined from the rescue to recovery
phases.
• Only around 2% of total funding in recovery
packages targets SMEs, compared to more than
25% in crisis rescue packages.
• In absolute terms, spending on SME-related
policies dropped from USD 3 862.02 billion in
the rescue packages to USD 78.15 billion in
recovery packages.
[CELLRANGE]
[CELLRANGE]
[CELLRANGE]
[CELLRANGE]
[CELLRANGE]
[CELLRANGE]
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Rescue Recovery Total
Share of SME related policies Share of other policies
Value tags in USD billion

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… across all policy domains
16
Share of SME related policies in rescue and recovery
packages by policy domain
March 2020 to October 2021, value announced for policies as a percentage
Source: Financing SMEs and Entrepreneurs 2022: An OECD Scoreboard.
• The SME orientation in the Covid-19 policy
response evolved from rescue to recovery
• Alternative finance channels are limited in both
rescue and recovery
• The share of SME-related policies in greening,
innovation, and digitalisation is lower in
recovery packages than in rescue packages.
• Policies related to greening and sustainability in
recovery packages represent only 2.44% of
financial support versus 8% in rescue.
8%
23%
2%
15%
2% 8% 4% 9%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Greening Digitalisation Skills Innovation
Rescue Recovery

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Policy implications and
way forward
Change image

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Policy implications and the way forward
18
• Continue to monitor SME access to finance as support is phased out and SMEs
face emerging challenges in 2022.
• Take additional measures to address the challenges of high levels of SME debt
• Strengthen diversification of SME financing, in line with the G20/OECD High-
Level Principles on SME Financing.
• Take additional action to support SME investments in the green transition.

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OECD
Public banks
Private banks
SMEs
Governments
19
The OECD Platform on Financing SMEs for
Sustainability
• Forum for dialogue and knowledge sharing
among public and private financial
institutions, policy makers, SME
representatives and others
• Driving data and analytical work on financing
SMEs for sustainability
• Networking among ecosystem actors
Fintechs

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