Accounting for 99.2% of the total business establishments in the country, there is vast potential to enhance the SMEs' contribution to the economy. In view of both their significance and potential, the Government has given due recognition and allocated significant amount of funds and resources to further enhance the growth of this sector. Various initiatives undertaken by the financial sector had also led to the SMEs enjoying a high level of financing from the financial system. In 2006, banking institutions approved RM39.6 billion to more than 84,000 SME accounts, an increase of 10.7% from the previous year. Meanwhile, outstanding loans to SMEs expanded by 4.2% on an annual basis to RM104.6 billion at end 2006, accounting for 45% of total outstanding business loans. In spite of these priorities and efforts, certain segments of the SME sector continue to lament the lack of financing access, which is deemed as a major challenge that hinders their growth and development. Interestingly, this is not unique to Malaysian SMEs, but rather a worldwide phenomenon. According to the Asian Banker's 2005 Report, it was estimated that only about 5%3 of the world's 500 million lowincome entrepreneurs have access to financial services. The main reasons for the financial constraints faced by SMEs are quite generic, and high on the list is the perception that SMEs are historically a high risk group lacking in financial discipline and unable to provide trustworthy financial track records.
Timothy Geithner: US and the global economy Remarks by Mr Timothy Geithner, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, at the Asia Society’s CEO Forum, New York, 19 October 2005. *  *  *  I want to focus my remarks today on the imbalances in the world economy and their implications for the United States and Asia. These imbalances, which are most visible in the U.S. current account deficit, present challenges—and risks—for the world economy. How we manage these challenges will have significant implications for our economic future and for the rest of the world. The sources of these imbalances are varied and complex. They are the result of fundamental changes in the world economy, changes not anticipated and not fully understood. They involve economic forces across the global economy, some transitory and some probably more enduring. The imbalances took a long time to build up and they will probably take a long time to unwind. The magnitude and persistence of these imbalances seems to be the result of the interaction of two forces. The first involves a decline in U.S. savings relative to domestic investment, matched by an increase in savings relative to investment in parts of the rest of the world, principally in emerging Asia and the major oil exporters. In the United States, public savings and household savings fell, while investment spending stayed reasonably strong and housing investment very strong, even during the latest recession.