Financing SMEs and Entrepreneurs 2026: An OECD Scoreboard provides a comprehensive framework for policymakers and other stakeholders to monitor access to finance by SMEs and entrepreneurs. It brings together indicators on debt, equity, and asset-based finance, as well as indicators on financing framework conditions, complemented by national policy snapshots of public and private initiatives to support SME access to finance. The report serves as a valuable tool for supporting the design and evaluation of policy measures and for monitoring the implications of financial reforms on access to finance and financing conditions for SMEs more generally.
This 2026 edition marks 15 years of the OECD Scoreboard on Financing SMEs and Entrepreneurs. It provides information on SME and entrepreneurship financing trends and policy developments in the context of recent reductions in interest rates, which nevertheless remain high compared to the pre-Covid period, and of heightened uncertainty reflecting geopolitical and trade tensions. The Scoreboard seeks to strengthen SME access to finance by documenting emerging good practices and data for governments to enable a diversified offer of financial instruments and sources. This edition includes a deep dive on how governments can better leverage venture capital to support innovative SMEs and start-ups.
Since the Scoreboard exercise began 15 years ago, the publication has become an international reference for information on trends and policies in SME and entrepreneurship finance. It presents data and policy developments for 48 countries including Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, the People’s Republic of China, Colombia, Croatia, the Czech Republic (Czechia), Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Korea, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Serbia, the Slovak Republic, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Türkiye, Ukraine, the United Kingdom and the United States.
Chapter 1 reviews recent developments in SME finance and financing conditions based on official data through to 2024, complemented by available information for 2025, and discusses policy measures and private sector initiatives drawing on input from participating countries and external sources. Chapter 2 provides an overview of global VC market trends over the last decade and explores recent venture capital policy initiatives, including government-backed VC programmes, to support the design of VC initiatives to drive SME growth.
This publication was prepared by the SMEs and Entrepreneurship Division of the OECD Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities (CFE/SMEE) under the guidance of the OECD Committee on SMEs and Entrepreneurs (CSMEE) and its Informal Steering Group on SME and Entrepreneurship Financing. The final draft of the report was reviewed by the Committee on 6 March 2026 [CFE/SME(2025)16/CHAP1/REV1], [CFE/SME(2025)16/CHAP2/REV1] and [CFE/SME(2025)16/CHAP3/ADD].