1、 1 外文翻译 原文 Small and medium enterprises financing in China Material Source： http： / Author： Walter GarciaFontes Introduction After the start of an open-door policy in 1978 moving towards a more market-oriented economy， China has experienced a decline in state-owned enterprises and an important expan
2、sion for small businesses. The role of small and medium enterprises (SME) in economic development is well documented for advanced economies and has been crucial in Chinas process of economic reform. It has been pivotal in Chinas impressive economic growth during the last decades. Nevertheless， some
3、bottlenecks and obstacles appear for further growth of SME， especially with respect to financing. In this paper we describe the situation of SME in China and the main issues concerning the financing of SME. SME have been part of Chinas impressive economic growth of the last decades and the main acto
4、rs in the privatization process. There is evidence， though， that further development is constrained by different factors， one of which is access to finance. 1 The development of SME in China According to the World Bank Investment Climate Survey for China， SME in China face important credit constrain
5、ts， and have limited access to private finance compared to other Asian countries included in the survey. The survey also shows that the use of formal finance declines with firm size. SME use less formal finance than large firms in all countries， since they are younger and subject to more growth unce
6、rtainty than large firms， but in China the difference is larger， even if we compare it with other Asian countries. A very important issue is what finance is available to start-up firms. The Project Group of Research in C hinese Private Enterprises organized by China Industrial and Commercial Union a
7、nd Research Commission of Chinese Private Business showed in a survey conducted in 2002 that self-accumulated money was the major source for starting up firms (approximately 2 55 percent)， complemented by money borrowed privately( 31.6 percent)and bank and Rural Credit Corporation loans (23.4 percen
8、t). The main problems related to SME access to finance in China are the following： Structure of the financial system China lacks an adequate credit system for SME， composed of the appropriate financial-service institutions. Large state-owned commercial banks have a very high market share of deposits
9、 and loans. The rating requirements for loans are quite high and are not met by SME， or the minimum amount that banks will lend vastly exceeds the demands for SME. City and rural credit cooperatives can not fill this gap due to their own structural limitations. A related issue is the insufficient de
10、velopment of the capital market in China. The capital markets started being developed by the sale of state-owned enterprises shares， but with a very cautious gradualist approach. This affected the initial development of stock markets. From the huge fund of household deposits only a small percentage
11、(6-7 percent) are in the stock market (Kenmore and Zhao， 2004， p. 36). In short， there is not enough liquidity to absorb outstanding shares and there is alack of institutional investors. Better perspectives can by found by the entrance of insurance companies and securities investment funds， which ha
12、ve been encouraged to invest in the stock market and are growing fast. Existence of collateral to banks the most common mechanism to reduce informational problems in financing SME it she use of appropriate collateral. In general it is easier to assess the value of assets in stead of the value of exp
13、ected future easy-flows. In the United States， for instance， 92 percent of SME debt is secured by appropriate collateral and 52 percent of debt is guaranteed by the owners of the firms ( Berger and Udall 1998). The most common form of collateral is accounts receivable or inventory. But SME in develo
14、ping countries in general， and specifically in China， lack of appropriate collateral to support their repayment ability in front of banks. The eligible collateral that can be used is determined by Article 34 of the Guarantee Law of the People Republic of China (1995)， which usually are hard for SME
15、to provide to banks. Credit rating There is a lack of credit rating assessments for SME in China， together with low incentive of SME to build a credit reputation since it does not have a direct effect on future borrowing. This affects negatively the quality of loans and decreases further the credit
16、rating of SME. A nationwide credit assessment system for SME was proposed in 2001. This credit assessment system was intended 3 to improve the information processing and transmission of the credit situation of SME. Accounting and auditing Financial structure of private firms is often opaque. There i
17、s a lack of transparent， audited financial records. There are restrictions in the registration under different forms of incorporation that gives incentives to firms to misrepresent financial flows， total employ- eyes， stocks of assets， and other aspects of the accounting and financial structure of f
18、irms. The tax system also can be circumvented partially by misreporting， usually under recording. As in other countries where incentives for true reporting are weak， firms are said to keep different accounting books： one for the government， one for banks and the last one for themselves (Internationa
19、l Financial Corporation 2003). Economies of Scale There are important economies of scale in the activity related to borrowing by banks. These economies of scale cannot be exploited at the typical borrowing scale of SME， and consequently banks will prefer large loans which can only be demanded by lar
20、ger enterprises. Political risks According to Mu (2002)， since most SME are non-state enterprises， the risks involved in performing bad loans is higher than for larger firms where there are still more state owned enterprises. Tax and investment policy treatment Private SME have disadvantages in acce
21、ssing credit and receiving approval due to their weaker connection to local authorities (as compared to state owned enterprises or privatized former state-owned enterprises， see for instance Kenmore and Zhao， 2004). This is also true for incentives in investment policy with respect to state owned an
22、d foreign enterprises(Kanamori， 2004). Foreign firms， for instance， can enjoy special tax exemption programs， where they get exemptions for two years after the first year that they register profits. Private firms instead are subject to a 33% income tax plus a 20% individual adjustment tax. 2 Current
23、 SME financing policies in China The Chinese government has become increasingly sensitive to the need of SME development. Policy has consisted of a mixture of interventions in financial markets to support access to finance and programs for local governments for SME development. In September 1999 a s
24、eries of measures were enacted in order to restructure the SME sector. These included the promotion of firm groups and the exit of non-viable small firms， as well as the set up of business development 4 services to assist SME in information consulting， marketing， funding， credit guarantee， technical
25、 support and services. In June 2002 the SME Promotion Law was enacted， emphasizing fair treatment and a” level playing field” for SME. This included greater access to finance and encouragement for venture capital investments in SME. To increase financial support the SME Technology Innovation Fund wa
26、s established in 2000. The Law did not include any specific funding， program monitoring or enforcement. These measures were complemented with the Government Procurement Law of 2002 encouraging contracts to SME and mandates of the Peoples Bank of China so that banks relax loan approval procedures for
27、 SME with good credit records. At the financial sector， an intended support measure for SME was the establishment of a ceiling on interest rates for loans to SME. This had a perverse effect as it decreased the incentives of banks to lend to SME (Wako 2004). In December 2000 the Peoples Bank of China
28、 raised the ceiling on interstate for SME loans. Credit Guarantee Schemes (CGS) was first implemented in Shanghai and Chongqing in1992. Initially they consisted of Mutual Guarantee Funds (MGF). The first commercial guarantees companies (CGC) were established in 1994 Sichuan and Guangdong， and after
29、1999， CGA have been established at provincial and municipal levels under government sponsorship. Apart from these， there are also provincial credit re-guarantee agencies (PCGA) and municipal guarantee agencies MCGA). CGA account for about 90 % of the total credit guarantees business for SME， and obt
30、ain re-guarantee services from the other institutions. Prudential regulation and supervision of CGS is still preliminary and incomplete (Mu， 2002). It consists only of some simple ratios to control for exposure to single clients. There are no requirements on minimum capital， liquidity risk and risk-
31、sharing ratios. 3 SME financing policies： experiences from other countries In the 1960s and 1970s different developing countries enacted active policies towards SME， mainly based on directed credit programs as a tool for economic development and growth. The main arguments in favor of direct support
32、and subsidies for developing countries relied on mainly on three arguments. First， it was argued that SME enhance competition and entrepreneurship and there fore their development has a positive impact on innovation and productivity growth. Second， it was also argued that SME can be more productive
33、than large firms， but their 5 development is constrained by an insufficient development of the financial system that is not able to provide sufficient credit for them， which has to be provided by direct government support. Third， it was thought that SME are labor intensive and therefore their develo
34、pment helps in reducing unemployment and poverty. After the 1980s though， direct support policies for SME started to be reconsidered， as practices in different countries showed that they mainly stimulated capital-intensive projects. On the other hand preferential funds were sometimes allocated for n
35、on-priority purposes， such as the survival of declining industries， and reduced financial discipline conducting to repayment problems， which in turn had a negative impact on budget deficits. Finally， direct support programs for SME created their own strong political support and are very hard to remo
36、ve once implemented. Some common criteria From the financing practices of Japan and Korea it is possible to draw some criteria that may be useful. These criteria were not applied consciously at all times， but ex-post they seem to show practices that may be helpful in all contexts. 1. Financing progr
37、ams for SME have to be sector-specific， well focused and of limited duration. In general， both in Japan and Korea the programs were targeted to specific sectors and implemented locally. 2. Direct subsidies have to be in general avoided， as they introduce wrong investment incentives and distort the f
38、inancial intermediation system. There is no empirical support on the effectiveness of direct subsidies. A well functioning business environment seems to be more important. 3. To prevent a negative impact on inflation and macroeconomic stability， the programs have to been general financed by long-ter
39、m funds. 4. Declining industries should be treated apart from the rest， and any support there should be have a very clear phase out horizon. 5. Export orientation should be always promoted. In both Japan and Korea the most successful support for SME seems to have been the promotion of access to inte
40、rnational markets. 6. Policies should be part of a credible and consistent long-term development strategy. The support for SME can not be viewed as an isolated attempt to create employment and reduce poverty， but as part of the creation of an adequate and competitive business environment， where stro
41、ng links are established between large firms and SME. 6 7. The credit programs should be channeled by well-capitalized and professionally managed institutions， which should function autonomously and should use market-based criteria for the assessment of the loans. Public funding should be used as a
42、signal for the involvement of the private sector. 8. Monitoring criteria should be based on clear and objective information. In this sense clear business plans and transparent accounting information seems to be very important to improve the prospects of financing. 9. Repayment procedures should be e
43、stablished as to avoid losses. 4 Proposed measures to improve small and medium-sized enterprises financing in China In this section we draw some recommendations from the previous discussion. Some of the proposed measures are not strictly financial， but can help in enhancing access of SME to finance.
44、 Improving the financial sector 1. Chinas credit system should try to adapt for the financing of SME， in order to increase the amount of funds available to them. Right now state-owned banks do not have all the resources to correctly evaluate credits for SME， most banks should have specialized depart
45、ments for this type of credits. There should be also a more flexible interest rate floating regime for credit available to SME. Ceilings on interest rate may represent an important constraint on SME access to finance. A ceiling on interest rates reduces the attractiveness for banks to lend to SME. 2
46、. Specialized financial institutions oriented towards SME credit should be gradually developed. To accomplish this goal， the current financial structure should be appropriately reformed. Currently there is an important amount of information asymmetry between urban and rural credit cooperatives and S
47、ME. The latter should develop into independent no state small and medium sized banks that could cooperate with SME and are incentivized by competition among them. The structure of financial institutions oriented towards SME could include different types of specialized institutions： regional stock ma
48、rkets， regional banks initiated by non-state investors， small credit guarantee companies， small leasing companies and small finance companies. All this structure should be complemented by the appropriate regulatory framework， in order to prevent financial risks. 3. It is very important that a social
49、-credit environment and an SME 7 credit-rating system is established. A well-functioning financial system demands the existence of mechanisms where efficient SME can build their credit reputation and secure the funds that they need for their growth. Since economic reforms in China are fairly recent， these types of mechanisms are still to be developed. Direct Support for SME 4. Government funds directly used to suppor
