Il microcredito in Italia. Analisi del nuovo quadro normativo e possibili applicazioni per uno sviluppo rurale inclusivo

Abstract

Microcredit (Mc) is defined as a loan of small financial amount, provided to beneficiaries in the absence of appropriate collateral guarantees. Considering the Italian regulation, there are two categories of microcredit: Mc for entrepreneurial purposes, intended to micro-entrepreneurs and self-employed workers, and Mc for social or solidarity purposes, intended to single persons with specific situations of socioeconomic vulnerability. Mc for entrepreneurial purposes refers to loans up to € 25,000 (in some specific cases up to € 35,000); furthermore, the same beneficiary can receive different loans, one after the other. Mc is supplied in the absence of collaterals, but personal warranties and other forms of guarantees are allowed. The provider not only supplies a microcredit to the debtor but also some assistance and experts’ advices in order to support him/her to manage and develop his/her business. This thesis firstly introduces the theme of microcredit with a wide description of its history and its developing around the world. The modern concept of microcredit first started in Bangladesh during 1970s, when Muhammad Yunus founded the Grameen Bank. Afterward, we analyse under a juridical perspective the European framework and the Italian regulation, with the recent ministerial decrees1, then we examine the European and national tools implemented to foster the offer of microcredit for microenterprises and self-employed workers. Subsequently, we outline a current overview of microcredit sector in Italy and offer some considerations concerning the restrictive effects that the national regulation could generate in terms of access to microcredit in the future. These considerations are supported by elaborations conducted using data extracted from database “AIDA” and related to specific categories of firms. Then, we consider the socioeconomic characteristics related to microcredit, analysing its structural elements and showing its potentialities but also the possible drawback effects. The fundamental research question is related to the role of microcredit in Italy, considering the current regulation and the national socioeconomic context. After, we focus on the potential use of microcredit to finance farms and microenterprises in rural areas. Some considerations are developed referring to the European policies for rural development and the care for socioeconomic improvement of rural areas promoted by Rural Development Programmes (RDPs) 2014-2020. Respect to the specific research question, the purpose is to underline the specificities - concerning both implementation and opportunities – regarding the possible applications of microcredit in agriculture and rural development. Afterward, we describe a case study focused on a survey on social farming. The research question is if microcredit could be suitable to finance social farms and therefore to foster social farming in Italy. A short description about what is social farming and a presentation of the recent national framework regulation are done; subsequently, the thesis presents the results of the above-mentioned survey conducted on a sample of social farms, interviewed by questionnaires using a Computer Assisted Web Interviewing” (CAWI). The objective is to give an overview of social farms in Italy, focusing on their structure, their financial needs, the services offered and the effects of the new regulation regarding the possibilities of current social farms to be recognised by the law. The specific research question is to understand if microcredit can be a suitable instrument to finance a relevant segment of social farms and consequently to foster social farming in Italy. Finally, some conclusions are offered. In a nutshell, in the italian context the economic weight of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) is very relevant and wide segments of firms - firstly, many microenterprises - don't access to the traditional credit circuit. Therefore, microcredit could take on an important role to finance specific targets and to foster the creation of new businesses, delivering also assistance and experts' advices to the entrepreneurs. The public system of guarantee funds to sustain the provision of microcredit seems to work well on the whole, but it has to be consolidated. Microcredit could take on a relevant role also in rural areas, where the supply of financings and business services is often even more lacking. Nevertheless, the national regulation establishes restrictions to access to microcredit that could be overly restrictive with respect to the objectives that the institutions want to achieve through this instrument. Both the analysis conducted on different categories of firms using data from database AIDA2 and the results concerning the specific case study on social farms seem to confirm this element. Therefore a deep study about the current regulation of microcredit should be conducted to assess whether the above-mentioned restrictions have to be amended.