SMEs continue to suffer from the tightening of financing conditions. During the second quarter of the year, new loans reached 41.4 billion, 9% less, corrected for the effect of inflation, than those granted during the same period in 2019, according to the latest report on bank financing for small and medium-sized businesses prepared by the Cepyme employers' association.
The average interest rate on new loans granted to SMEs was 4.36% during the second quarter, the highest level since 2008. It represents an annual increase of 292 basis points, the largest since 2000. However, Interest rates for new loans are lower than the eurozone average and also lower than those of other surrounding countries such as Germany, Italy and Portugal.
Especially significant is the worsening access to bank financing for medium-sized companies, whose new loans reduce their term and average amount, and are granted at interest rates that increase more quickly, warns the business organization.
These conditions have caused the proportion of loan applications rejected by banks to increase and have already accumulated five consecutive quarters of increases.
According to Cepyme, the lower market liquidity and pessimistic economic prospects have led financial entities to raise the bar for credit requirements for SMEs.
The average term of new loans tends to shorten. At this time, the period is, for the fourth consecutive quarter, less than 11 months, something that has not happened since March 2012, warns Cepyme.
The conclusion drawn by the SME employers is that access to bank financing becomes progressively more difficult for the most modest entrepreneurs. Banks are tightening their lending criteria, as certified by the Bank Loan Survey carried out by the European Central Bank (ECB), and this has an impact on the productive fabric. There is less demand for new financing from medium and small companies due to the higher cost of loans and their lower investment.
