Datasets and Microdata for the Research: Debt Under Climate Stress: Investigating the Link Between Climate Damage and SME Overleveraging in Africa

This data wsa used to investigates the impact of climate change-induced monetary damage on the financial stability of SMEs in Africa, focusing on their overleveraging as measured by outstanding loan balances. Utilizing data from the World Bank Enterprise Survey (WBES) for 2023, we examine SMEs from Botswana, Côte d'Ivoire, and Mauritius. Our findings reveal a strong and statistically significant relationship between climate-related financial losses and SME indebtedness, with a correlation index of 0.61. The Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression model confirms that approximately 76.1% of the variance in SME overleveraging can be explained by climate-induced financial losses.