It is, of course, possible for a time to clear a market through central planning, albeit at a lower standard of living, by restricting alternatives available to a population as BIS Review 29/1998  ˝  -6-  the Soviet system demonstrated. It is also possible to clear the market through the free play of competitive forces with consumers’ choices governing what is produced.
In addition, formal financial institutions assume that extension of credit to these SMEs would require high monitoring and enforcement costs. Both these supply and demand related factors remain major handicaps to the development of medium to long term financing.