A financial expert, Mr Eddie Osarenkhoe, has attributed the failure of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to repay their loans to the high cost of doing business.

Osarenkhoe, a former President of Finance Houses Association of Nigeria (FHAN), told newsmen in Lagos, that the difficulty in doing business had retarded the nation’s tempo of business activities.

According to him, it has also placed limitation on the nation’s economic potential and reduced entrepreneurial skills in the country.

“The SMEs are the bedrock of any nation that wants to develop because they contribute positively to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).’’ Osarenkhoe noted that the SMEs spent huge amounts of money to run their generating sets daily due to instability in the nation’s power supply.

He said that inadequate power supply had an adverse effect on the cost of production and made it difficult for some of the SMEs to pay back their loans to financial institutions.

“When the SMEs do not pay back their loans, there will not be funds for finance houses to lend to new investors and this affect their operations.

‘’ Osarenkhoe also said that that lack of funds would bring about stagnation of economic development and the attendant challenge of unemployment and poverty. “For meaningful development to be achieved, the Federal Government must give urgent attention to electricity in order to have an effective SMEs operators in the country,’’ he said.