The Credit-Increasing Mechanism of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises: Evidence from Taizhou’s Credit Guarantee Fund

Increasing the credit of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) is the key to solving SMEs’ financing difficulties. Because of their small size and fixed assets, it is not easy for SMEs to get loans from mortgage or private guarantee institutions. Therefore, to alleviate the credit rationing faced by SMEs and reduce financing cost, the key is to increase corporate credit score. This study uses small and micro-businesses’ data from Taizhou city to identify the key factors affecting corporate default. The results show that enterprise scale, enterprise operation status, financial environment, and credit-increasing means are the key factors affecting enterprise default, and credit protection funds do not play a significant role. Therefore, it can be argued that at present, the credit growth of SMEs still relies mainly on fixed asset mortgage, while the role of credit protection funds needs further refinement to effectively assist SMEs to solve difficult and expensive financing.