SMEs remain ‘a drag’ on business lending growth

Small companies remain “a drag” on business lending growth, it has been claimed, as increased repayments cancel out rising rates of new lending.

Gross new lending to ‘core’ SMEs rose by almost 23%, year-on-year, to €849m in the third quarter of the year, new figures from the Central Bank show. However, repayments by core SMEs rose by €166m to €1.3bn.