Int'l MSME Day today

FE REPORT

The International Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise (MSME) Day is being observed in Bangladesh today (Thursday) as elsewhere in the world in recognition of MSMEs' contributions to the growth of global economy.

In Bangladesh, despite various limitations, the growth of cottage, micro, small and medium enterprises (CMSMEs) has been phenomenal. They together have helped generate millions of jobs and lower the rate of poverty. Their contribution to the goal of empowerment of women has also been significant.

Experts are of the opinion that CMSMEs could have performed better and contributed more to the economy, had they received fair treatment in terms of policy support and access to formal finance to a notable extent.

Since these enterprises are not capable of offering collaterals against their borrowings, formal financial institutions demonstrate a lukewarm response to their loan proposals. This situation needs to be changed in the greater interest of the economy, added the experts.