The OECD has said SMEs across the world are finding it increasingly harder to access vital finance as economic uncertainty continues.

The organisation has published the latest report: Financing SMEs and Entrepreneurs: An OECD Scoreboard which concluded SMEs and entrepreneurs have faced a series of shocks in recent years which is impeding their access to finance.

It added despite the recent easing in SME interest rates, borrowing costs for SMEs remained high in 2024, well above pre-COVID (2019) levels, new lending to SMEs ticked upwards in 2024 but remains fragile, with volumes still 20% lower than in 2019 in real terms.

Lenders are also asking for more security from SMEs: the share of SMEs that were required to provide collateral to secure a loan jumped 5%, to reach 53% of SMEs in 2024. As a result, in 2024 SME loan stocks remained lower than in 2019 in 23 out of 38 countries. This sluggish growth in SME credit is weighing on investment, with implications for competitiveness.

The report highlighted that growth in equity financing has been highly concentrated. By mid-2025, large venture capital deals in the artificial intelligence (AI) sector accounted for 51% of total global deal value, up from 37% in 2024.Other forms of alternative financing, including factoring and leasing, showed mixed performance across countries.

The report called on governments to support a broader range of financial instruments to help kickstart investment and strengthen SME competitiveness. This means expanding access to venture capital to more firms and creating an enabling environment for fintech solutions that can serve SME financing needs effectively and safely.

“While this 2026 edition comes at a time when borrowing costs were beginning to ease, they remain historically high, with 34 out of 39 countries having higher SME rates compared to the pre-pandemic, and heightened geopolitical tensions are creating upward pressures,” the report stated. “At the same time, bank lending terms and conditions have tightened, with 10 out of 17 countries showing higher shares of SMEs requiring collateral, reflecting persistent economic uncertainty on the part of financial institutions.

“In the context of the evolving conflict in the Middle East, a prolonged period of higher energy prices would add markedly to business costs and raise consumer price inflation, with adverse economic consequences. Against this backdrop, while there are tentative signs of recovery in new lending to SMEs, with the Scoreboard median increasing by 5.7% in 2024, it remains fragile.”

It added: “Indeed, lending in 2024 was still 4% down on 2022 and the stock of SME loans as a share of GDP fell in 25 out of 41 countries, driven in part by repayments of COVID-19-era loans and declining maturities of new loans. In fact, long-term loans, often used to finance investments, edged down.

“Taken together, these developments suggest that economic uncertainty and relatively high borrowing costs continue to contribute to sluggish SME credit growth, holding back investments at a time when it is urgent to boost SME competitiveness. Finance through other instruments, such as factoring and leasing, also remains subdued with the Scoreboard median growth rate of factoring activities falling by 3% in 2024, and leasing increasing modestly by 1.6% over the same period.”

Then report concluded: “Looking ahead, SME finance policy should seek to foster SME long-term investments alongside working capital, to boost competitiveness, resilience and growth in a context of continued economic uncertainty.

“Efforts to strengthen diversification of financing instruments and sources should also continue, including asset-based finance and equity, as well as responsible digital and AI-enabled finance.”