WASHINGTON — A U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) report, Small Business Lending in the United States 2012, shows that bank lending to small business continues to decline while lending to big business has increased.

In the report’s overall findings, the SBA noted:

“Total small business borrowing from depository lenders remained subdued for both commercial real estate (CRE) and commercial and industrial (C&I) loans under $1 million, while large business borrowing increased. The value of these small business loans outstanding declined by 3.1 percent in 2012, compared with 7.0 percent the previous year, while large business loans in excess of $1 million increased by 12 percent in 2012, compared with 5.8 percent in 2011.”

The report summary stated:

“Since the end of the recession in mid-2009, overall lending conditions have improved for businesses, but improvement has been slower for small firms.”

However, Raymond J. Keating, chief economist for the Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council, commented that the data does not show slower improvement, but rather “it strikingly shows continued deterioration through last year.”

Small business commercial real estate loans outstanding, in billions of dollars, from 2008 through 2012, declined from 375.0, to 372.0, to 342.3, to 323.9, to 307.8.

Small business commercial and industrial loans outstanding, in billions of dollars, from 2008 through 2012, declined from 336.4, to 323.3, to 309.9, to 283.0, to 280.1.

So, although big business lending has recovered, small business lending has not.

Publication date: 8/5/2013

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