ECB: Credit misery drags on for small firms[fr] 

The study , covering 6,000 firms of all sizes in the 16-country euro zone, also showed that a majority of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) anticipate either no improvement, or further deterioration, in the lending environment this year. 

"Looking ahead to the following six months, in mid-2009 the majority of expected their ability to obtain financing to remain broadly unchanged," the report said. 

"At the same time, the proportion of SMEs that expected the availability of financing to deteriorate was slightly larger than the proportion expecting an improvement." 

Firms were surveyed between 17 June and 23 July. While a net 33% of firms complained of a deterioration in access to bank loans in the first half of the year, data suggested that there was no full scale credit crunch. 

Of the SMEs that applied for bank loans in the first half of 2009, 77% said they had received all or at least part of the amount requested, with 60% getting the full sum. In contrast, 12% had their application rejected. 

When asked about the main reasons for their assessment, more than half the firms blamed bleak economic conditions. A third highlighted that banks had hiked the non-interest-rate-related costs of getting loans and toughened collateral requirements. 

Another finding likely to concern the ECB is that commercial banks do not appear to be fully passing on the drastic cuts to official interest rates over the last year. 

Of the firms surveyed, 34% reported that banks had increased interest rates on loans while 31% said they had remained unchanged. 

While the analysis did not fully break down the data on a country-by-country basis, the ECB said the lending environment was clearly worse than average in Spain, while in Germany the situation was a little above average. 

(EurActiv with Reuters.)