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b'Small and medium-sized enterprises are the backbone of Asia\\u2019s economies.\\n\\nThe Asian Development Bank\\u2019s most recent SME survey covered 20 countries in Central, East, South, Southeast Asia, and the Paci\\ufb01c and showed that SMEs accounted for an average of 96% of all enterprises and 62% of the national labor force.\\n\\nSMEs contributed an average of 42% of the gross domestic product or manufacturing value added in these countries, and continued to in\\ufb02uence trade. \\n\\nThe latest data show that SMEs in the People\\u2019s Republic of China and India accounted for more than 40% of total export value, followed by 26% in Thailand, 19% in the Republic of Korea, and 16% in Indonesia. \\n\\nYet their development is hindered because of the difficulty accessing affordable credit. \\n\\nRead the transcript\\nhttp://bit.ly/2CbsUEl\\n\\nRead the working paper\\nhttps://www.adb.org/publications/solutions-smes-difficulties-accessing-finance-asian-experiences\\n\\nAbout the authors\\nNaoyuki Yoshino is dean of ADBI\\n\\nFarhad Taghizadeh-Hesary is an assistant professor of economics at Keio University, Tokyo\\n\\nKnow more about ADBI\\u2019s work on SMEs\\nhttp://bit.ly/2ElPHnb\\nhttp://bit.ly/2CdtNwf\\n\\nRelated Podcast\\nhttp://bit.ly/2H6cRLR\\nhttp://bit.ly/2tZS4mU'