De l'accès au crédit à son efficacité : effets des contraintes ex post du financement bancaire sur la croissance des PME à Mbujimayi

Abstract

This study examines the effect of ex-post banking financing constraints on the growth of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the city of Mbujimayi. Using data collected from 385 bank-financed SMEs, the study employs Principal Component Analysis (PCA) to construct a composite growth index and Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression to assess the impact of financing constraints. The findings reveal that interest rates and credit rationing negatively and significantly affect SME growth, whereas longer repayment periods have a positive effect. Interest rates emerge as the most critical constraint to growth. These results suggest that the effectiveness of bank financing depends more on its conditions of use than on access to credit alone. The study recommends more flexible lending policies to support SME development and growth.