02048cas a2200265 a 4500 AALejournalIMF015802 230101c9999 xx r poo 0 0eng d 5.00 USD 9781513509112 1018-5941 BD-DhAAL BD-DhAAL Ghassibe, Mishel. SME Financial Inclusion for Sustained Growth in the Middle East and Central Asia / Mishel Ghassibe, Maximiliano Appendino, Samir Elsadek Mahmoudi. Washington, D.C. : International Monetary Fund, 2019. 1 online resource (23 pages) IMF Working Papers <strong>Off-Campus Access:</strong> No User ID or Password Required <strong>On-Campus Access:</strong> No User ID or Password Required Electronic access restricted to authorized BRAC University faculty, staff and students This paper offers empirical evidence that greater financial inclusion of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) can promote higher economic growth and employment, especially in the Middle East and Central Asia regions. First, we show that countries with higher SME financial inclusion exhibit more effective monetary policy transmission and tax collection. Second, we find substantial employment and labor productivity growth gains at the firm level from access to credit, gains that are higher for SMEs. We also obtain evidence of a substantial positive impact on SME employment and labor productivity growth from improved credit bureau coverage and insolvency regimes. Finally, cross-country aggregate evidence confirms the employment and growth gains from SME financial inclusion, which appear larger in the Middle East and Central Asia than in other regions. Mode of access: Internet Appendino, Maximiliano. Mahmoudi, Samir Elsadek. IMF Working Papers; Working Paper ; No. 2019/209 Full text available on IMF http://elibrary.imf.org/view/journals/001/2019/209/001.2019.issue-209-en.xml IMF e-Library