Ten years into the transition, newly emerging private enterprises in transition economies, usually described as small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the international context, have come to play an increasingly important role as the driving engines of economic growth and employment creation. Accordingly, the policy considerations for developing SMEs are becoming very urgent and important for transition economies, especially through facilitating financial mechanisms for them, as limited availability of financial resources is the largest hindrance to their development.

This publication gathers the proceedings of the Second Workshop on "Financing Newly Emerging Private Enterprises in Transition Economies" which was organised in Paris under the aegis of the OECD’s Centre for Co-operation with Non-Members with the sponsorship of the Japanese Government. This volume contains in-depth studies on various schemes for financing these enterprises, including credit guarantees, leasing, venture capital and capital market operations, as well as public schemes. In addition, it provides detailed and comparative information on the situation of SME development and the policy measures towards it.