The crisis makes itself felt every day: families know it, but also businesses. The demand for loans from banks is increasing, but at the same time their risk remains high (net non-performing loans reached 2013 billion in February 61,7, gross 127,7 billion); the ratio of net non-performing loans to total loans was 3,2% in February (3,4% in January 2013; 2,6% in February 2012). This is what emerges from the monthly report of the ABI, the association of banks.
In recent months, however, the potential reliability of companies has further decreased, putting into question the payments due to suppliers even by customers who had never given problems: according to the latest data processed by Crif (observatory on commercial risk) at the end of December 2012, 11,26% of Italian companies had a high risk of generating unpaid trades with their suppliers in the following 12 months, while another 45,89% were characterized by a medium risk. Only in 6,08% of cases was there a low risk (in 2008, on the other hand, the percentage of totally reliable companies was almost 10%) and, for the remaining 36,77% of the total, medium-low.
According to what emerges from the last quarterly survey on bank lending (Bank Lending Survey - January 2013) on the determinants of the demand for business loans, during the fourth quarter of 2012 there was still a significant decrease in the demand for business loans linked to investments: the indicator expressed by the net percentage stood at -62,5 (-37,5 the previous quarter). Moreover, the demand for loans for inventories and working capital also decreased (-12,5) and for mergers, incorporations and restructuring of corporate structures (-37,5).
