Umar Farouk Abdulkarim, Sanni Oluwale Nurudeen, Bashir Umar Faruk
The study examines the moderating role of government intervention on the relationship between interest rate and SME performance; implication on poverty alleviation in Zamfara state. The population of the study consists of all small-scale enterprise owners in Zamfara State. Simple random technique was used, while the sample size of 397 was arrived at using formula suggested by Israel (2013) for a finite population. The study was anchored on Gibb’s Micro and Small Enterprise Support Theory. Using regression analysis, result from the study demonstrated the importance of SMEs in reducing poverty in Zamfara State. Based on the findings, the study concludes that government intervention and interest rate are significant determinants of SMEs performance; besides government intervention significantly moderates the relationship between interest rate and SMEs performance, in addition, SMEs performance is significant determinant of poverty alleviation. The study recommends that Zamfara state government should incentivize SMEs owners by providing them with employment incentives and intervening through subvention and interest rate reductions, as well as creating an environment conducive to business growth.