Credit Constraints: Current Developments and Comparison with Other Finance Market Variables

As part of the Ifo Business Survey, companies are asked on a monthly basis to assess their access to bank credit as easy, normal or restrictive. The credit constraints, calculated based on firms’ feedback, give the percentage of firms participating in the survey that experience access to bank credit as restrictive. This article offers an overview of current developments in credit constraints, differentiated according to economic sectors and firm sizes, and provides the first results of sub-sectors in manufacturing. The second part compares credit constraints with other financial market variables.