We are pleased to present this fourth edition of the SME Policy Index: Eastern Partner countries 2024.

Over the last four years, the five countries of the Eastern Partnership (EaP) – Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine – have experienced major socio-economic and political shocks, above all the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. The outbreak of the pandemic in early 2020 caused an unprecedented health crisis, with a spike in mortality estimated at close to 320 thousand excess deaths across the region. EaP governments issued stay-at-home orders, restricting mobility, social interactions and economic activities to contain the spread of the virus and rolled out important fiscal stimulus measures to mitigate the economic impact of the pandemic on households and businesses. Nevertheless, a large economic contraction occurred across the region, with EaP economies contracting between -3.8% and -7.2% of GDP in 2020.

The SME Policy Index is a benchmarking tool for assessing and monitoring progress in the design and implementation of policies for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The index was developed in 2006 by the OECD in partnership with the European Commission, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the European Training Foundation (ETF). Since then, it has been implemented across a growing geographical area that now covers almost 40 economies in 5 regions: the Eastern Partnership (EaP), the Western Balkans and Turkey, the Middle East and North Africa, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), and Latin America and the Caribbean.

This section provides an overview of key findings of the 2024 Small Business Act for Europe (SBA) assessment for all Eastern Partner (EaP) countries across the dimensions of the five thematic pillars and the selected framework conditions for the digital transformation, as well as key findings for each country. A detailed analysis and cross-country comparison of each pillar and dimension is presented in Part I of this report, while Part II contains full country profiles. Complete scores per dimension, sub-dimension, and thematic block found in Table 2.22 at the end of this chapter. The scoring methodology is presented in Annex A.

The four years since the previous SBA assessment have been marked by major socioeconomic and geopolitical shocks, above all the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine.

The SME Policy Index is a benchmarking tool for emerging economies to monitor and evaluate progress in policies that support SMEs. The tool is structured around the ten principles of the Small Business Act for Europe (SBA), providing a wide range of measures to guide the design and implementation of SME policies. The main objective of the SME Policy Index is to provide governments with a framework to assess policies targeting SME development. The Index identifies strengths and weaknesses in policy design, implementation, and monitoring, allows for comparison across countries and measures convergence towards EU SME policy standards. For more detailed information on the assessment framework and process, please refer to the chapter “Policy framework, structure of the report and assessment process”.