Half of SMEs claim banks unwilling to lend: report

More than half of the country’s small business community believes the banks are unwilling to lend, despite new data showing that actual demand for credit remains low.

The SME Lending Demand Survey — carried out by Ipsos/MRBI and Mazars, and commissioned by the Department of Finance — found that 51% of small firms feel the banks aren’t lending to the sector.

However, of that amount only 20% based their view on their own experiences — with 45% forming their opinion from media reports and 35% from the experience of their business peers.