Financing SMEs and Entrepreneurs 2026

7. Chile

Key facts on SME financing

Chile's GDP grew by 2.6% in 2024, mainly driven by an increase in mining exports, while investment declined by 1.4%, and consumption grew moderately by 1.0%.

MSMEs accounted for 98.6% of the firms for the tax year 20241, but only represented 12.6% of total annual sales, according to the Internal Revenue Service2 (SII) which provides a size classification based on firms’ total annual sales.

In terms of MSME access to credit, results from the “Banking Credit Survey” of the Central Bank of Chile3 (BCCh), show that in Q4 2024, conditions for the supply and demand of credit remained limited, although they were moderately less restrictive than in Q4 of 2023.

The outstanding debt of SMEs and the share of the outstanding stock of SME loans to the total loans increased between 2023 and 2024. Specifically, SME loans increased from CLP 26.2 billion in 2023 to CLP 26.9 billion in 2024, and the share of stock increased from 19.6% to 20.7% during the period.

Meanwhile, other financing alternatives for firms like factoring and invoice discounting were stable between 2022 and 2024, reaching around CLP 5.4 billion in the stock of factoring operations.

New developments on policies to support MSMEs and particularly the financing of MSMEs, through the Production Development Corporation4 (Corfo) and the Technical Cooperation Service5 (Sercotec) included the expansion of social programs, and promotion of instruments related to formalization and financing. Through Sercotec, instruments related to foster formalization and support for micro and small firms in different areas, benefited more than 9 000 firms and cooperatives from all regions of the country, for more than USD 40 million in 20246. For MSME financing, Corfo supported more than 23 000 companies, granting credits for more than USD 1.3 million.7

Instruments focusing on formalization include Capital Abeja, Capital Semilla and Creación y Fortalecimiento de Cooperativas. Financing initiatives include Fogape Chile Apoya, and venture capital funds supported by Corfo8. Some financing measures are implemented jointly with BancoEstado9.

Finally, discussions in congress are advancing for the creation of an agency focusing exclusively on financing investment projects -Agencia de Financiamiento e Inversión para el Desarrollo (AFIDE). It is expected to be approved in the following years.

Table 7.1. Scoreboard for Chile

Indicator	Unit	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024
Debt
Outstanding business loans. SMEs	CLP billion	6.8	7.6	8.1	9.3	10.1	11.5	11.8	13.8	15.8	17.3	18.7	19.8	20.8	23.9	25.3	25.8	26.2	26.9
Outstanding business loans. total	CLP billion	40.9	49.9	46.3	48.1	57.2	64.6	69.8	76.4	84.9	88.8	90.3	99.5	108.5	111.8	126.0	133.9	133.9	130.3
Share of SME outstanding loans	% of total outstanding business loans	16.7	15.2	17.5	19.3	17.7	17.9	16.9	18.0	18.6	19.5	20.7	19.9	19.2	21.4	20.1	19.3	19.6	20.7
New business lending. total	CLP billion				53.3	58.0	58.0	58.1	63.9	67.8	67.4	67.7	71.4	77.1	70.8	70.4	85.8	92.0	104.3
New business lending. SMEs	CLP billion				2.6	3.1	3.8	3.8	4.4	5.1	5.1	5.6	5.6	5.8	8.7	6.5	4.2	3.7	6.2
Share of new SME lending	% of total new lending				4.9	5.3	6.5	6.6	6.8	7.5	7.6	8.2	7.8	7.5	12.3	9.2	4.9	4.0	5.9
Outstanding Short-term loans. SMEs	CLP billion				1.6	2.0	2.3	1.8	1.8	1.9	1.8	1.8	1.9	1.8	1.1	0.9	1.1	0.9	1.3
Outstanding Long-term loans. SMEs	CLP billion				1.0	1.1	1.5	2.0	2.5	3.2	3.3	3.8	3.8	4.0	7.6	5.6	3.2	2.8	4.8
Share of short-term SME lending	% of total SME lending				60.2	63.3	60.3	47.8	41.9	36.9	35.8	32.8	33.3	31.0	12.6	13.2	24.9	25.1	21.7
Government loan guarantees. SMEs	CLP billion	0.2	0.3	0.8	1.1	1.3	1.9	1.9	1.6	1.7	1.8	1.7	1.7	1.7	7.7	6.1	2.2	4.0	0.8
Government guaranteed loans. SME	CLP billion	0.3	0.5	1.3	1.8	2.0	2.9	3.2	2.3	2.5	2.6	2.6	2.5	2.6	10.4	8.4	3.4	4.9	1.4
Non-performing loans. total	% of all business loans			2.5	2.2	2.1	2.2	2.4	2.6	2.4	2.1	2.3	2.5	2.4	2.1	1.9	4.4	4.6	2.6
Non-performing loans. SMEs	% of all SME loans			5.9	6.1	5.5	5.4	6.1	6.1	5.9	5.3	5.2	5.9	5.9	4.7	4.1	2.2	2.4	4.7
Interest rate. SMEs	%							11.8	10.3	9.3	9.3	8.4	8.3	7.7	5.4	6.4	11.2	10.8	11.0
Interest rate. large firms	%							4.7	4.0	3.8	4.0	3.7	3.8	3.7	3.1	2.9	7.2	9.4	6.8
Interest rate spread	Percentage points							7.1	6.3	5.5	5.3	4.7	2.1	4.0	2.3	3.6	4.0	1.4	4.2
Collateral. SMEs	% of SMEs needing collateral to obtain bank lending	44.0		49.8				72.8		68.1		65.4		68.4			71.9
Percentage of SME loan applications	SME loan applications/ total number of SMEs	32.9		32.4				26.4		24.6		22.6		20.8			15.9
Rejection rate	1-(SME loans authorised/ requested)	29.3		13.0				11.0		12.8		13.0		14.1			15.3
Utilization rate	SME loans used/ authorised	86.6		91.0				87.9		96.7		96.0		95.9			97.9
Non-bank finance
Venture and growth capital	CLP billion	0.03	0.02	0.02	0.03	0.04	0.04	0.03	0.04	0.04	0.05	0.02	0.05	0.06	0.05	0.06	0.08	0.06	0.04
Venture and growth capital (growth rate)	%. Year-on-year growth rate		-27.4	1.1	21.6	42.8	12.7	-25.4	35.9	-5.2	29.5	-58.0	121	21.1	-13.8	29.6	22.5	-23.7	-39.0
Leasing and hire purchases	CLP billion	3.0	3.6	3.5	3.8	4.5	5.0	5.6	6.2	6.6	6.7	7.8	8.2	8.7	8.4	8.8	8.8	9.2	9.7
Factoring and invoicing	CLP billion	2.0	2.0	1.4	1.9	2.4	2.6	2.6	2.6	2.9	3.0	3.8	4.4	4.7	4.4	4.7	5.4	5.4	5.4
Other indicators
Payment delays. B2B	Number of days				75.8	74.9	56.7	52.7	55.2	58.0	55.0	58.3	52.0	60.5	53.3	48.5	47.8	42.8	42.8
Bankruptcies. SMEs	Number	122	127	125	136	146	146	164	6	133	215	231	319	368	368	354	314	284	292
Bankruptcies, SMEs (growth rate)	% Year-on-year growth rate		4.1	-1.6	8.8	7.4	0.0	12.3	-96.3	2117	61.7	7.4	38.1	15.4	0.0	-3.8	-11.3	-0.1	2.8

Notes

← 1.  This indicator excludes firms with no information about sales from the universe of firms (it also excludes informal entities).

← 2.  Servicio de Impuestos Internos.

← 3.  Banco Central de Chile.

← 4.  Corporación de Fomento a la Producción.

← 5.  Servicio de Cooperación Técnica.

← 6.  Information from administrative data of Sercotec.

← 7.  Information from administrative data of Corfo.

← 8.  Please refer to the following link for further information: https://chileemprende.economia.gob.cl/

← 9.  BancoEstado is a public entity (bank) that works with autonomy, legal personality, and its own assets. It operates on a permanent basis and is subject to the exclusive supervision of the Financial Market Commission (CMF)