FRANKFURT (MNI) – The European Central Bank published a survey on
Friday showing a sharp fall in the funding difficulties faced by small
and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the Eurozone.

According to the survey, which was conducted between August 27 and
September 22 and covered over well over 5,000 firms, 24% of SMEs
reported further difficulties in obtaining financing between March and
September, only slightly more than half the proportion reporting the
same problems in the previous survey (42%).

Please see the verbatim text below, which summarizes the results of
the survey:

The European Central Bank (ECB) is publishing today its report on
the results of the “Survey on the access to finance of small and
medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the euro area”. The survey was
conducted between 27 August and 22 September 2010, and covered 5,312
firms in the euro area. The associated ECB report provides information
on the financial situation, financing needs and access to financing of
SMEs in the euro area, compared with large firms, in the six preceding
months (i.e. March to September 2010).

The overall situation concerning the access of SMEs to external
financing has improved at the euro area level. Between March and
September 2010 the proportion of SMEs reporting a worsening in access to
bank loans, at 24%, almost halved compared to the previous survey, when
it stood at 42%. At the same time, 12% of SMEs reported an improvement
in access to bank loans, compared with 10% in the previous round. The
factors which have an impact on the availability of external financing
have improved, especially those concerning the economic outlook.

As regards large firms, which are also covered by the survey as a
reference group, bank loan application success remained stable at a high
level and the overall financial situation showed clear signs of
improvement.

Overall, euro area SMEs generally reported broadly unchanged needs
for external financing between March and September 2010, with a net
percentage of 3% of firms seeing their needs for bank loans increase in
that period, compared to 16% in the previous survey, which covered the
period from October 2009 to March 2010.

* * *

This survey was developed in collaboration with the European
Commission. A joint ECB/European Commission survey round is conducted
every two years. This round was organised exclusively by the ECB, which
repeats a part of the survey every six months in order to assess the
latest developments in the financing conditions for firms in the euro
area. The report on the results of the survey for the euro area can be
found on the ECBs website at http://www.ecb.europa.eu in the
Statistics section under “Monetary and financial statistics” /
“Surveys” / “Access to finance of SMEs”, along with detailed statistical
tables with additional breakdowns.

[TOPICS: M$$EC$,M$X$$$,M$$CR$,MT$$$$]