German bankers may not like to admit it, but for the first time in post-war German history, the country's small-and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), known collectively as the Mittelstand, face a credit crunch.
According to a new survey by KfW, the government-owned development bank, nearly half the Mittelstand say that obtaining a bank loan - its main means of finance - has become "considerably more difficult". KfW also found that three-quarters of the SMEs turned down for a loan would have paid a higher interest rate to get it.
"This fact shows clearly that, for many German SMEs, the problem is access to credit rather than their ability or willingness to pay," wrote Dirk Plankensteiner, a KfW expert on Mittelstand finance who helped to compile the survey.
KfW's findings pose a real problem for the German economy, as the loan- dependent Mittelstand accounts for 99.5% of the corporate sector and employs 70% of the workforce.
