Financial Sector Development, Microcredit, and Export Performance of Small Firms in the Republic of Moldova

Abstract

This article examines the relationship between financial sector development, access to microcredit, and the export performance of small firms in the Republic of Moldova. The study starts from the assumption that limited access to finance remains one of the main barriers preventing small enterprises from expanding production, improving quality, and entering foreign markets. The aim of the article is to assess whether a more developed financial sector can improve export capacity by facilitating microcredit and related financing instruments for small businesses. The analysis is based on secondary data, policy reports, academic literature, and firm-level evidence from the World Bank Enterprise Survey for Moldova (2024). The methodological approach combines descriptive and analytical discussion with a weighted firm-level empirical exercise testing whether access to external finance is associated with export participation. The empirical results provide only partial support for the main hypothesis. In the pooled sample, access to credit does not show a statistically significant positive effect on export participation after controls are included, while firm size remains the strongest predictor of exporting. At the same time, the results in the manufacturing subsample are more consistent with the expected positive relationship, although still statistically imprecise. The article concludes that financial sector development remains an important enabling factor for export performance, but its effect is conditional on firm scale, sector, and broader structural constraints. UDC: [336.77:334.72.012.64]:339.564(478); JEL: G21, F14, L25, O16