DUSHANBE, December 17, 2009, Asia-Plus  -- To develop small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) entrepreneurs must cooperate more actively with banks, Ms. Chiara Bronchi, the World Bank Country Manager for Tajikistan, said in an interview with Asia-Plus.

According to her, development of SMEs in Tajikistan is still going slowly.  One of reasons for this is the fact that entrepreneurs do not trust banks and prefer to work on cash.  Good functioning of the banking system allows business enterprises to manage cash flows, Ms. Bronchi noted.

Sometimes, business enterprises do not have enough cash, however, there is credit line provided by banks, i.e. entrepreneurs may freely use loan and bank must facilitate this by every possible means.

Besides, there is another aspect of advantage of cooperating with banks, when there is surplus of cash and banks may repay loans taken from international financial organizations.  “This allows banks and entrepreneurs to settle with suppliers at proper time, purchase necessary raw materials, i.e. this helps them run business smoothly, without difficulty.  It is necessary to develop this direction in Tajikistan,” the World Bank country manager stressed.