Loans cost Irish SMEs twice the Eurozone average rate

Irish SMEs are paying more than twice the eurozone average for credit and are faced with the highest interest rates of any country in the currency union.

As businesses continue to pay the price for the lack of competition in the banking sector, they are being forced to fork out far more than their European peers for loans as interest rates remain stubbornly high despite recent improvements in the profitability of the largest Irish lenders.

ECB data shows the average interest rate charged on SME loans — of €250,000 or less — is 6.56% in Ireland. This rate is far and away the most expensive in the eurozone with Slovakia’s 5.07% the next highest among countries for which data is available.