The Microfinance and Self-employment Environment for the Socially Excluded: Country Report Sweden
This report presents a summary of Sweden's economic data and then assesses the country as an ideal environment for microfinance and self employment against a set of six criteria, assigning for each a rating between 0 and 5. Criteria and corresponding ratings are:
- Entrepreneurial context (3.0);
- Policy for micro-enterprises (2.5);
- Welfare bridge (2.0);
- Legal framework for microfinance providers (2.0);
- Financial bridge for the socially excluded (1.5);
- Funding for microcredit providers (1.5).
The paper concludes that Sweden is exemplar for other European countries in supporting policy measures with a uniform small-business environment in terms of entrepreneurial context, legal framework, tax system and co-operation between the different systems.As per the authors, what Sweden can improve in, compared to other European countries, is creating a constructive debate between the financial, employment and social systems on microcredit and on the role to be played by banks, savings banks, welfare and employment institutions.
