The Mediterranean Middle East and North Africa 2018
Interim Assessment of Key SME Reforms
This report provides an in-depth analysis of major reforms undertaken between 2014 and 2018 to promote micro, small and medium-sized enterprise development in Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, the Palestinian Authority and Tunisia. The report focuses on five strategic areas for SME policy making: SME definitions, statistics and institutions; improving business environments for SMEs and entrepreneurs; fostering access to finance; nurturing start-ups and SME growth; and the development of entrepreneurial human capital.
The report aims to showcase good practices and to point to areas where more efforts are needed. It provides valuable guidance for governments, private sector organisations, multilateral bodies and other stakeholders to intensify their efforts to support SMEs as essential vehicles for jobs and competitiveness. This is particularly relevant in a region striving to boost economic diversification, employment creation and the inclusion of youth and women in the economy.
The report is the result of a process of close collaboration among governments, the OECD, the European Training Foundation and the European Commission.
Palestinian Authority
The Palestinian Authority (PA) For the OECD, “PA” is an abbreviation of Palestinian Authority and defines either the territories in the West Bank and Gaza under the administration of the Palestinian Authority, or the Palestinian Authority itself, according to the context. For the European Commission and the EU institutions contributing to the report, PA stands for Palestine and its institutions. This designation shall not be construed as recognition of a State of Palestine and is without prejudice to the individual positions of the EU Member States on this issue. has yet to put into place a full-fledged SME and entrepreneurship policy. PA has an official SME definition introduced by the Ministry of National Economy and approved by the cabinet in 2011 (see Table 12.1). However, the definition is not consistently used between different policy actors. The definition was already reported in the SME Policy Index 2014 and has not changed; although there are reports that the Ministry of National Economy, the Palestinian Investment Promotion Agency (PIPA), the Palestinian Monetary Authority (PMA), the Prime Minister Office, the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, the banking association and private sector organisations are working on updating and adopting a definition accepted by all relevant parties.
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