Banks second worst lenders in EU

IRELAND has been ranked as the second worst place in the European Union for providing finance to small and medium businesses.

This is according to figures from Eurostat, the European Union’s statistics office, which revealed that the percentage of unsuccessful applications for bank credit in Ireland by smaller companies rose to 27% in 2010 from 1% three years earlier.

The highest percentage of unsuccessful applications was in Bulgaria at 36%. Ireland in second spot was followed by Latvia (26%), the Netherlands (23%), Lithuania and Britain (both 21%). The lowest was in Finland (0.2%), Malta (2%), Cyprus and Poland (both 4%) and Italy (5%).