They were posted on the site in Ministry of Economic Development the results onoperation of the Central Guarantee Fund for the year 2012. The Fund managed by the MiSE to facilitate access to credit for SMEs recorded a marked increase over the last twelve months both in terms of requests and in terms of admitted operations: 62.069 applications were in fact presented (+3,5% compared to 2011) of which 61.408 were accepted (+11,2%). The fund has thus conceded 4 billion euros of guarantees, activating approximately 8,2 billion euros of credit for businesses. Industry represents the sector with the highest share of accepted applications (26.720 transactions, 43,5% of the total), followed by commerce (20.350 transactions, 33,1%) and services (9.336 transactions, 15,2%). Compared to 2011, the trend continues to rise for industry and services (8,6% and 3,3% respectively), while trade drops by -4,1%. The incidence of applications excluded is expected at 1,4%, where the most recurring causes that determine the exclusion of the guarantee from the Fund are represented by an insufficient cash flow to pay the installment (21,6% of total excluded applications), high current liabilities in relation to turnover (16,9%) and a low gross operating margin on turnover (13,3%). On the other hand, the activity of the start-ups launched in 2012 was positive, with 13.468 transactions accepted, for a loan amount of €1,4 billion and a guaranteed amount of €636 million.
As regards the geographical distribution of the results, most of the applications accepted concern companies based in the northern regions (29.785 companies, equal to 48,5% of the total) and of the South (19.144 businesses, 31,2%). From the comparison with the data relating to 2011, if the enterprises of the South show data in line with those of the previous year, the Center and the North show an expansion of 19,4% and 16,3% respectively.
Although the share of average loans granted to companies is decreasing, reaching 2012 thousand euros in 133, against 151 thousand in the previous year, the Fund's important support to the SME system is demonstrated by the significant number of companies admitted in the absence of the presentation of real guarantees. Almost all of the assets, equal to 99,5% of the total, in fact had access to financing without providing collateral, while only 0,5% presented guarantees consisting of mortgages (0,1% of the total) or pledges (0,4% of the total).
"The slowdown in credit and the lack of liquidity are among the most serious problems afflicting our production system and which we have wanted to tackle, since the first act of the legislature, with great determination and by acting on various levers. With the refinancing and reform of the Guarantee Fund, the early implementation of the European directive on payment times, the extension of VAT in cash, the compensation between certified debts and credits of the PA and the new corporate finance rules, we have launched a series of concrete measures to put liquidity back into circulation. The positive results of the Guarantee Fund demonstrate that our system of small and medium-sized enterprises continues to do its part and tries to overcome the difficulties” said the Minister of Economic Development Corrado Passera. Who further underlined that everything possible must be done to counter the credit crunch for businesses and speed up PA payments, hoping that this theme of the real economy will continue to be one of the work priorities for the new majority and the new government that will emerge from the next elections.
