Dafmag.fr, the 19/02/2014, tribune of Antoine Gendre.
Nine out of ten SME managers are “worried” about economic conditions, to varying degrees. And for more than half of the bosses, the turnover should decline this year.
Nine out of ten SME managers “worried” about economic conditions. A level that has hardly changed since the end of 2012, says the Barometer on financing and access to credit SMEs SMEs CGPM and KPMG published in February. This general sentiment is corroborated by the outlook for the level of activity in 2014: for more than half of the bosses, turnover is expected to decline this year.
Optimism is no longer in the financial field and relations with banks: entrepreneurs are 36% to estimate having to face problems of cash or financing ; such a level had never been achieved in the past four years. They are also a big third to restrict their investments or their credit applications because of the difficulties of access to credit, without any improvement in recent quarters.
Access to credit always difficult
On the other hand, there is no improvement in terms of access to credit, with a very high level of entrepreneurs considering they have been confronted with at least one hardening measure, mainly higher fees or amounts granted. weaker than what was requested.
Finally, despite the small improvement announced in economic conditions – the government forecasts 0.9% growth this year, like many economists – SMEs remain very cautious in terms of investment: they are only 20% anticipate a rise in this area this year.
