Leveraging SME Finance through Value Chains in Georgia

The aim of the research is to study the challenges facing SMEs in Georgia in terms of access to finance, which will be conducted as part of the project “Leveraging SME Finance through Value Chains in Georgia”, supported by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the Asian Development Bank Institute (ADBI) and the CAREC Institute (CI).

The paper will be included in the ADBI’s and CI’s working papers and will be published as a separate chapter in a book jointly published by the ADB, the ADB and the CI.

The research conducted by PMC Research will be focused on:

• Studying the status of SME finance in Georgia.
• Identifying barriers to SME finance in Georgia, including cultural, procedural, institutional and regulatory incentives/disincentives faced by SMEs seeking to access finance and the reasons behind such access being blocked or rejected.
• Assessing the status of the financial knowledge and skills of SME managers in Georgia.
• Assessing the status of domestic and global value chains in Georgia.
• Assessing the opportunities of SMEs in Georgia to link with both domestic and global value chains and the potential impact of this on their access to finance.
• Analyzing value chain financing in Georgia and policies promoting SME finance.

Based on the study results, the PMC Research team will elaborate policy recommendations to promote greater access to finance for SMEs and trade finance in Georgia, especially in agri-business, taking into account best global practices and with the aim of increasing the level of financial knowledge and skills of SME managers.