Surely a sufficiency of the first is usually a prerequisite for the latter.
The responding SMEs reported a net increase in their need for financing, with the difference between those reporting an increasing need and a decreasing need standing at five percentage points. They also reported a slight deterioration in availability of credit, with 12% reporting applications for loans had been rejected, up from 11% during the previous survey period six months earlier. The percentage of SMEs reporting access to finance as their main problem remained broadly stable at 16%.
Armed with these numbers and citing a European Commission study from 2012 that found SMEs employ 70% of the region’s workers, Yves Mersch, executive board member at the ECB, warned: “Europe should be very concerned by the difficulties that SMEs are currently facing – in particular those in countries under stress.
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