Financial Crisis and the Challenges Facing Macrofinance Institutions

Abstract

The paper looks at the impact of financial crisis on emerging economies, forecasts trends in institutional lending during the next several years, and discusses the challenges of finding alternative financial instruments for funding start-ups. Some of the assumptions in this Paper are predicated by research in the former Soviet Union countries where the author is currently engaged in developing strategies to meet high SME borrower demands at a time when liquidity levels in banks and other financial institutions have hit rock bottom. The paper is based on the assumption that liquidity levels will remain low for the foreseeable future; that small enterprises in developing nations will be hardest hit; that entrepreneurial drive among new comers to business will be dampened on account of recession, tightening of liquidity and entrepreneurship activities will be restricted on account of markets for products and services being narrowed through diminishing demand. The paper attempts to develop an effective and flexible model for financing start-ups in emerging markets through a combination of tools pertaining to financing models, management, marketing, innovation, risk sharing and innovative financing modalities. At best, it is a discussion paper which looks into the future of funds and financing and the overall responsibility of economic groups to spread the benefits of savings into productive forces at micro level.