Credit rating system helps regional SMEs’ access to finance
The system was introduced at a
recent workshop held in Jakarta, Indonesia by the ASEAN Secretariat,
Bank Indonesia (BI) and Indonesia’s Ministry of Cooperative and SMEs.
The
workshop aimed to socialise the outcomes of the study and create
awareness on the benefits of credit rating system among key
stakeholders.
Participants at the event discussed SMEs-related
issues, such as the definition of SMEs, their contributions to the
economy, main criteria and principles credit rating in order to serve
the establishment, start-up and access to finance of SMEs.
Challenges ahead include availability and integrity of credit data,
both financial and non-financials, as well as acceptance by relevant
stakeholders to utilise and trust the credit rating assigned by credit
rating agencies, they said.
The workshop was part of the ASEAN
SMEs Agencies Working Group’s initiative to develop an ASEAN benchmark
for SME credit rating methodology for reducing asymmetric credit
information thus enhancing access to finance for SMEs.-VNA