Food and accommodation face rocky road to recovery, warns Central Bank

The sector has seen lending fall by 70% since the onset of the pandemic

Bank lending to SMEs has fallen back to 2016 levels.

Bank lending to the accommodation and food sector has declined 70% since 2019, and has yet to rebound.

New figures from a recent Financial Stability Note by the Central Bank on SME credit conditions in the pandemic recovery showed that the food and accommodation sector alone accounts for about 40% of the aggregate decline in new lending.