While small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are important for economic growth and employment, they face numerous obstacles in accessing external finance. In this article, we review recent developments in the availability of financing for SMEs in Brazil, focusing on the greater use of equity and debt for SMEs. In assessing the barriers to external financing, we focus on the role of bank characteristics, market structure and variations of interest rate spreads across banks and time. Moreover, as banks retreat from SME financing, we examine the potential for SMEs to seek new sources of financing from private equity and venture capital funds. We examine the changes in the availability of bank loans between 2014 and 2016. By considering demand, we estimate the SME loan gap based on Central Bank and publicly available data. Our results show that the loan gap in Brazil is substantial.

中文翻译：

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中小企业融资：巴西融资缺口分析

虽然中小型企业 (SME) 对经济增长和就业很重要，但它们在获得外部融资方面面临许多障碍。在本文中，我们回顾了巴西中小企业融资的最新发展，重点关注中小企业更多地使用股权和债务。在评估外部融资壁垒时，我们关注银行特征、市场结构以及银行间利率差和时间变化的作用。此外，随着银行退出中小企业融资，我们研究了中小企业从私募股权和风险投资基金寻求新融资来源的潜力。我们研究了 2014 年至 2016 年间银行贷款可用性的变化。通过考虑需求，我们根据中央银行和公开数据估算了中小企业贷款缺口。