Assessing the Effectiveness of Commercial Bank Loans as Sources of Funding/ Capital Formation for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Southeast, Nigeria

The paper assesses the effectiveness of commercial bank loans as sources of funding Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Southeast, Nigeria. A cross-sectional survey method wherein structured questionnaire was used to collect data was adopted. A sample of 500 respondents was randomly selected from the five industrial hubs in the five states of Southeast, namely Nnewi, Aba, Enugu, Abakiliki, and Owerri. With the aid of pecking order theory (POT)/hypothesis of Lending, percentage formula, and SPSS version 20.0 tools, the data generated from the respondents were analysed. Among others, the results of the analysis reveal that SMEs and commercial banks are highly indifferent to the loans facilities; strict collateral requirements, high interest rates, and the nature of requirements for guarantors dissuade SMEs from accessing loans; and government interventions provided palliative measures but failed to address the problems associated with the loans. Therefore, this paper recommends policy reforms to reduce interest rate, collateral and guarantor requirements. Further research on how to modernise and harmonise other external sources of SME funding such as ‘daily contribution' and ‘Isusu' systems is required.