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Structural adjustment and its implications for financing small enterprises in Nigeria
01.12.1991
This article looks at the extent to which financial liberalization under the recent structural adjustment programmes in Nigeria has affected the chances of microenterprises and small businesses (MSEs) obtaining credit from financial institutions. The 'pro-state' and 'pro-market' views regarding access to formal credit by MSEs are contrasted; then the article describes how financial liberalization has affected the banking system in Nigeria. A discussion of the changing patterns of credit sourcing by MSEs from formal financial institutions during 1980–90 follows. This reveals that the credit available to MSEs from commercial and merchant banks has risen sharply during the period, both in volume and as a proportion of the total credit available to all sectors.