Time: 13:00-15:00 (UK Time), Wednesday, 20 October 2021
Presenter: Ruth Grace MBANGO NGEA, École Nationale Supérieure de Statistique et d'Économie Appliquée (ENSEA), Côte d'Ivoire

Chair: Professor Victor Murinde, SOAS University of London
Online venue: Click here to join the seminar on Microsoft Teams (For any inquiry about how to join the online seminar, please contact Dr Meng Xie: xm1@soas.ac.uk)

Abstract
This study examines the potential effect of remittances and financial development on Small and Medium-sides Enterprises (SMEs) access to finance. We use data of SMEs from World Bank Enterprise Survey (2005-2019) of 106 developing countries. Using probit regressions for the estimates, our results show that the effect of remittances on the likelihood of SMEs obtaining a loan is negative. We also found that complementarity between remittances and the probability of SMEs access to credit significantly depends on financial development. The negative effect of remittances on SMEs access to credit could be mitigated by financial development. Measures that improve financial development must therefore be implemented to increase SMEs' access to finance in recipient developing countries.

Keywords: Remittances, SMEs access to finance, Financial development.

Presenter

Ruth Grace MBANGO NGEA is a doctoral candidate at the École Nationale Supérieure de Statistique et d'Économie Appliquée (ENSEA) - a World Bank Centre of Excellence based in Abidjan - dedicated to high level research and training for Statisticians and Economists for Francophone Africa. She is a graduate of the University of Yaounde II. Her research interrogates contemporary issues in the fields of corporate finance and international finance. Her ongoing research work, supervised by Professor Issouf Soumaré of Laval University and who is also affiliated to ENSEA, focuses on the impact of remittances on SMEs' access to finance and the role of financial development.