SME trade finance: Immediate challenges and future priorities

Assessing the extent to which SME financing challenges have been exasperated by Covid-19, this session from GTR East Africa 2021 Virtual sees experts Tawanda Mudimbu (Chief Operating Officer, Asoko Insight), Nassourou Aminou (Regional Manager, Africa, FCI), Ian Sayers (Senior Adviser, Access to Financing, Division of Enterprises & Institutions, International Trade Centre Geneva), and Rafaravavitafika Rasata (Director of Economic Expansion, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Madagascar) highlight the response from financiers across the African continent and the initiatives boosting credit availability that are particularly crucial for smaller businesses.
The discussion also looks forward at what the key risks and opportunities posed to East African SMEs in 2021 & beyond are, and which steps are required by development financiers and other stakeholders (policy makers, central banks, commercial banks, corporates) to mobilise and increase financing support for SME trade.