Financing of entreprises - 2025-05
Published on the 11th of July 2025
Further drop in the cost of financing to NFCs in May
- In May 2025, growth in financing granted to non-financial corporations (NFCs) reached 1.5% (after 1.4% in April), with growth in debt securities (+0.3% year-on-year) still lower than that of bank loans (+2.1%). Within the latter, growth in investment loans remained high (+3.8% compared to April) while that of cash loans was still negative (-4.0%, after -3.0% in April).
- The cost of new financing fell again in May to an average of 3.47% (after 3.59% in April and 3.72% in March), mainly due to bank loans (3.56% after 3.68% in April).
1 - Overview of NFCs : Outstanding amounts and flows in € Bn, annual growth rate and cost in %
(non-seasonally adjusted) ![]()
| May-2025 (p) | Annual growth rate | Cost (annual interest rate) | |||||||||
| Outstanding
amounts |
Transactions
(cumulative over 12 month) |
New business
(cumulative over 12 month) |
May- 2024 | Mar- 2025 | Apr-2025 (r) | May-2025 (p) | May- 2024 | Mar- 2025 | Apr-2025 (r) | May-2025 (p) | |
| NFC's global financing | 2,093.1 | 30.6 | 680.1 | 1.8 | 1.9 | 1.4 | 1.5 | 4.16 | 3.72 | 3.59 | 3.47 |
| Loans | 1,380.3 | 28.8 | 332.4 | 1.7 | 2.3 | 2.3 | 2.1 | 4.31 | 3.80 | 3.68 | 3.56 |
| Investment | 1,003.8 | 3.4 | 3.5 | 3.8 | 3.8 | ||||||
| equipment | 633.0 | 3.4 | 3.6 | 3.8 | 3.8 | ||||||
| real-estate | 370.8 | 3.4 | 3.2 | 3.7 | 3.8 | ||||||
| Cash | 299.8 | -5.0 | -1.5 | -3.0 | -4.0 | ||||||
| Other lending | 76.7 | 10.6 | 3.6 | 4.4 | 5.8 | ||||||
| Loans up to €1 million | 118.0 | 4.47 | 3.88 | 3.85 | 3.79 | ||||||
| Loans over €1 million | 214.3 | 4.23 | 3.76 | 3.58 | 3.41 | ||||||
| Securities other than shares | 712.8 | 1.7 | 347.7 | 1.9 | 1.2 | -0.4 | 0.3 | 3.88 | 3.56 | 3.40 | 3.31 |
(r): revised data ; (p): provisional data
Monthly changes in outstanding loans by purpose (seasonally adjusted data in € Bn)![]()
Cost (all maturities combined) by financing sources (in %) ![]()
2- Loans to firms by size ![]()
- In May 2025, outstanding loans increased by 1.0% for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and companies of unspecified size, and by 3.0% for large firms. They were down very slightly (-0.2%) for mid-sized enterprises (ISEs).
- The average cost of new loans continued to decline for all company sizes, and was more pronounced for large firms (-20 basis points, to 3.22%).
| Outstanding amounts (in Bn€) | Outstanding year-on-year growth in % | Cost in % (annual interest rate) |
|||||||
| May-2025 (p) | May- 2024 | Mar- 2025 | Apr-2025 (r) | May-2025 (p) | May- 2024 | Mar- 2025 | Apr-2025 (r) | May-2025 (p) | |
| All firms | 1,380.3 | 1.5 | 2.1 | 2.0 | 1.9 | 4.31 | 3.80 | 3.68 | 3.56 |
| Of which: | |||||||||
| - SME and unspecified size | 568.7 | 1.6 | 1.3 | 1.4 | 1.0 | 4.56 | 3.76 | 3.67 | 3.55 |
| - ISE | 386.3 | 2.9 | 0.2 | 0.5 | -0.2 | 4.16 | 3.94 | 3.84 | 3.74 |
| - Large firms | 208.7 | -0.5 | 4.7 | 4.4 | 3.0 | 3.86 | 3.67 | 3.42 | 3.22 |
Interest rates (all maturities combined) by enterprise size (in %)![]()
Outstanding amounts of loans to resident enterprises by size (in € Bn) ![]()
3 - Outstanding amounts by sector ** (stocks in € Bn, annual growth rate in %)![]()
Growth in outstanding borrowings remained mixed across business sectors. It remained positive for the advisory and business support activites (+8.0%), real estate activities (+3.7%), transportation and storage (+3.7%), and agriculture forestry and fishing (+2.6%).
However, outstanding borrowings continued to contract in the wholesale and retail trade (-4.3%), construction (-3.3%), art, entertainment and recreation activities (-2.6%), accommodation and food services activities (?1.5%), and industry (-0.8%). The year-on-year change in outstanding borrowings was negative for information and communications (-4.3%).
However, outstanding borrowings continued to contract in the wholesale and retail trade (-4.3%), construction (-3.3%), art, entertainment and recreation activities (-2.6%), accommodation and food services activities (?1.5%), and industry (-0.8%). The year-on-year change in outstanding borrowings was negative for information and communications (-4.3%).
| Drawn credits | Drawn and undrawn credits | |||||||
| Outstanding amounts | Outstanding year-on-year growth in % | Outstanding amounts | Outstanding year-on-year growth in % | |||||
| May-2025 (p) | May- 2024 | Apr-2025 (r) | May-2025 (p) | May-2025 | May- 2024 | Avr-2025 (r) | May-2025 (p) | |
| Agriculture, forestry and fishing (AZ) | 68.0 | 3.1 | 3.4 | 2.6 | 77.2 | 1.30 | 3.9 | 3.5 |
| Industry (BE) | 165.3 | -4.0 | -0.5 | -0.8 | 261.6 | -0.70 | -1.5 | -2.4 |
| - inc. Manufacturing (C) | 114.9 | -1.8 | -1.7 | -1.7 | 182.3 | 1.10 | -2.0 | -3.0 |
| Construction (FZ) | 69.6 | -2.5 | -2.7 | -3.3 | 105.2 | -4.30 | -2.0 | -2.0 |
| Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles (G) | 179.0 | -2.2 | -3.0 | -4.3 | 251.5 | -2.70 | -2.4 | -2.7 |
| Transportation and storage (H) | 66.3 | 7.6 | 3.0 | 3.7 | 84.4 | 5.40 | 3.4 | 5.1 |
| Accommodation and food service activities (I) | 52.5 | -1.7 | -2.0 | -1.5 | 58.1 | -1.30 | -1.5 | -1.3 |
| Information and communication (JZ) | 33.5 | 8.9 | 0.8 | -4.3 | 52.8 | 4.60 | -9.9 | -8.6 |
| Real estate activities (LZ) (**) | 560.2 | 4.0 | 3.9 | 3.7 | 615.0 | 4.00 | 3.8 | 3.6 |
| Advisory and Business support activities (MN) | 107.1 | 8.8 | 9.2 | 8.0 | 134.1 | 8.20 | 7.5 | 7.2 |
|
Education, human health and social work services, Arts, entertainment and recreation, Other service activities (PS) |
61.6 | -0.2 | -2.0 | -2.6 | 68.8 | 0.30 | -4.9 | -5.2 |
| Holdings | 19.3 | 8.3 | 17.5 | 14.6 | 23.4 | 8.00 | 22.5 | 19.0 |
Download the PDF version of the document
EN_Stat_Info_Financing_of_firms_202505.pdf
Updated on the 10th of July 2025