The survey conducted under the KfW ifo Credit Constraint Indicator demonstrates that the difficult economic situation in Germany is also reflected in the market for company loans.

First, credit demand visibly lost momentum again in the third quarter, after large enterprises previously still showed slightly more interest in borrowing. Second, banks also approached loan applications from businesses with much greater caution. More than one third of large enterprises viewed banks’ lending behaviour as restrictive. That was a second consecutive new record high. For SMEs, accessing credit was a similar challenge. The KfW ifo Credit Constraint Indicator for SMEs stood at 31.5%, just under the high recorded in the summer of 2023.

KfW-ifo Credit Constraint Indicator Q3 2024(PDF, 164 KB, accessible)

Press release