Eurozone companies see access to credit deteriorating: ECB

(FRANKFURT) - Small and medium-sized enterprises in the euro area expect a further narrowing of access to bank credit over the next six months, the European Central Bank found in a survey on Friday.

"For the coming six-month period, SMEs expect, on balance, a further deterioration of their access to bank loans and bank overdrafts," the central bank said in the findings of its survey.

For the survey, the ECB quizzed 7,514 euro area small-to-medium firms between September 3 and October 11 and the findings appears to cast doubt on a speedy turn around for the eurozone economy.

About 15 percent of companies surveyed said they expect less access to bank loans between October and March compared with 7.0 percent in the first half of 2012.

SMEs are crucial employers in the eurozone economy and rely heavily on banks for financing.

The survey found that 22 percent of companies perceived a deterioration in the availability of bank loans in the period from April to September, compared with 20 percent in the preceding six months.

Earlier this week, in its regular quarterly bank lending survey, the ECB found that eurozone banks are becoming stricter about lending money to companies and households, even as demand for loans is drying up amid the current crisis.

According to the results of that survey, banks tightened the criteria that businesses must meet to take out loans in the third quarter of this year and said they would do so again in the fourth quarter.

Survey on the access to finance of SMEs in the euro area (SAFE)