BoE figures may show lack of confidence in small businesses, says NFEA

Date: 6th July 2009

The Bank of England's (BoE) latest credit conditions survey may indicate a lack of financial confidence among small businesses, according to the National Federation of Enterprise Agencies (NFEA).

Demand for secured and unsecured lending has decreased over the past three months, the BoE figures suggest.

George Derbyshire, chief executive of the NFEA, said: "We seem to have a confidence issue here and maybe small businesses are in fact lacking confidence in approaching banks."

However, recent research from the Federation of Small Businesses indicates that small businesses have gained confidence in recent months.

Further to this, the British Bankers' Association has released figures indicating that the level of lending to small businesses increased in April.

Demand for lending from small businesses decreased from March to June with a net percentage balance of 6.7 in and -16.0 in both months respectively.