Factors influencing credit accessibility for small and medium company in South Africa's construction industry : a literature review

Abstract: The study provides a comprehensive discussion on access to credit by the Small and Medium Enterprises (Construction SMEs) sector in South Africa. Access to credit has been noted as one of the major challenges impeding the survival and growth of the Construction SME sector in South Africa. The problems of access to finance, gaps and the reasons for the gaps in SME financing in South Africa are discussed. Gaps in SME financing were discussed in relation Stiglitz and Weiss (1981) credit rationing theory which advocates that agency problems and asymmetric information are the main reasons for the credit rationing behaviours of credit providers to Construction SMEs. This paper is a review to identify gaps in literature regarding the financing of Construction SMEs in South Africa. It is revealed that access to credit by Construction SMEs is still a major challenge impeding the realisation of the full potential of construction SMEs as engines of poverty alleviation, employment creation and economic growth at large. Therefore it is recommended that policy recommendations aimed at solving access to credit challenges must be empirically tested on a regular basis and progress in that regard must be constantly monitored and revised to reduce the proble