The average debt-to-turnover ratio among indebted firms fell from 48 per cent to 31 per cent over the same period. This survey evidence tallies with aggregate statistics, which show a large fall in outstanding bank credit to SMEs between 2010 and 2018.
The substantial paying down of legacy debts incurred before the crisis have occurred in tandem with rapid growth in the issuance of new loans. Our statistics report that new bank lending to SMEs outside of the financial and property-related sectors rose from € billion in 2013 to € billion in 2017.