2023-08-07 10:59:06
In a difficult economic context where companies are dragging the followingmath of exogenous shocks (Covid and war in Ukraine), bank financing remains the bane of SMEs and even large companies which are seeing their conditions of access to bank credit harden.
Tunisian companies still have difficulty obtaining bank loans, which constitute the main source of external financing. In the absence of recourse to the financial market as well as to other financing instruments, such as venture capital and leasing, bank financing is vital not only for the recovery of the cash flow of these companies weakened by the crises but also for the deployment of their development strategies.
This problem has its origin in the onerous conditions demanded by the banks, namely the constraints linked to collateral as well as to mortgage guarantees, which harden access to bank loans. According to World Bank data, SMEs’ lack of access to financing has continued to widen in recent years, increasing the rate of companies complaining regarding it from 21.9% in 2013 to 43.9% in 2020.
Today, the problem of bank financing extends to affect even large companies, which had, a priori, the means to meet the stringent requirements of banks. This is what emerges from the results of the 22e business climate survey conducted by Itceq. Indeed, the said survey underlines that bank financing constitutes a structural constraint which persists especially from a cost point of view.
The bank financing indicator continues its downward trend to stand at 32.2/100 in 2022, down 6.4 points compared to 2020.
The rate of companies that say they have difficulty accessing financing has increased by 4% between 2020 and 2022, to stand at 54%. The results also revealed that this issue is increasingly affecting large companies, 54% of which consider bank financing to be a major constraint.
This percentage was only 28% in 2020. “Like small and medium-sized enterprises, large companies have become increasingly vulnerable and cash-strapped in a context marked by the fallout from the health crisis and the war. in Ukraine,” the report explains. The survey also points to the burden that the exorbitant cost of loans weighs not only on SMEs but also on large companies. Indeed, 78% of SMEs believe that the cost of loans is a major obstacle compared to 74% in 2020.
This perception has developed a lot in large companies, following the Covid crisis, since 74% of them deplore excessive costs. This rate was only 54% in 2020.
It should be noted that despite the financing difficulties, the fabric of SMEs is beginning to recover, slowly but surely from the repercussions of the Covid crisis. According to the results of the Tunisian SME health barometer “Miqyes”, 36.8% of companies affirmed that 2022 was a year of recovery, with an increase in annual turnover compared to the year former. 29% of them made investments (including 69% for an extension of activity) once morest 15.5% in 2020 and 36.2% in 2019.
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