Access to credit, the default rate of companies has returned to around 2% after years. Capecchi (Crif): “Pnrr possible flywheel”
Setback for the credit applications from the businesses Italian companies: to pay for the increase in interest rates, energy costs and the increasingly uncertain macroeconomic context. In the first quarter of 2023 the bending it is 3.6% on the previous year. Vice versa, the average amount requested records a double-digit increase: +27.8%, for an amount equal to 146,845 euros. This was revealed by Eurisc – Crifm’s Credit Information System which shows that the general trend of decreasing requests is also reflected in the cross-section for typology of businesses. In fact, the credit application by the firms identifiesshows them a contraction of 6%, while le capital company undergo a decrease of 2.4%.
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Conversely, the average amount for both sectors continued to grow sharply: +27.4% for joint-stock companies (193,363 euros) and +21.3% for sole proprietorships (49,717 euros). “With the increase of cost of money it is almost inevitable that even the firms try to borrow less money and that the risk of non-repayment of the loan increases”, he explains Simon Capecchi, executive director of Crif. “If households can decide to postpone a loan application until interest rates have decreased, businesses have costs that cannot be postponed and a permanent need for liquidity”, continues Capecchi.
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At the same time, the corporate default rate after many years it started to rise again, reaching around 2% in 2022. This latter indicator has been in constant decline since 2013 and which over the years has outlined an ever-decreasing riskiness of companies and a favorable scenario for banks and the credit industry. In particular, the default rate it went from peaks of 7-8% to a trough of 1.5% in 2021. Subsequently, the descending line first flattened and then returned to growth from 2022.
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