Companies’ search for credit ends 2021 with a historic high of 20.6%

The Serasa Experian Credit Demand Indicator of Companies registered an increase of 20.6% in the annual accumulated of 2021 compared to 2020. This was the highest of the entire historical series of the index, started in 2008.

The Index pointed out that 21.1% of micro and small entrepreneurs looked for financial resources, which boosted the high registered in the last year.

The percentage of large and medium-sized companies that applied for credit in 2021 also increased, 7.4% and 7% respectively.

For FGV professor Fabio Gallo, the increase is not a good indicator. He believes that the solution found by entrepreneurs to try to recover their businesses was the greater demand for credit.

“Most micro and small entrepreneurs had great difficulty in accessing government emergency programs”, making loans the solution for “survival”.

Gallo points out that some entrepreneurs, especially those who needed to invest in online commerce and deliveries, may have used credit to “invigorate the business and to grow, which is the good side of this number”. But it is a reality of the minority of companies.

The Index also shows that the Services sector was the one that most demanded credit during the year (24.9%), followed by Trade, which grew by 17.1%, and Industry, with 15.5%.

In the analysis by region, throughout Brazil there was also growth in the search for financial resources. In ascending order, the increase in the South was 25.1%, followed by the Northeast (20.9%), Southeast (19.2%), North (19.0%) and Central-West (18.0%) .

* Under supervision of Ana Carolina Nunes