During the crisis, SMEs were seeking loans to cover the deterioration in trading 2/5  BIS central bankers' speeches  conditions and support balance sheet restructuring. In 2012, 40 per cent of credit applications from Micro-SMEs were for “stressed” reasons, which include revenue declines, increased bad debts, or a slowdown in debtor collection. By 2016, this figure had dropped to 13 per cent.
We are also seeing that the share of credit applications for investment purposes is rising while the share for working capital is declining, which is again likely a symptom of improving outlook and sentiment. One aspect of SME financing that has received much attention is the cost of credit.