This report analyzes the difficulties experienced by Argentina’s small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) when it comes to access to credit.

Argentine SMEs mostly resort to self-financing. They finance between 60% and 65% of investments using their own resources, which shows how limited their access to the financial market is. This conclusion can be inferred from the data released by the Fundación Observatorio PyME (SME Observatory Foundation), which shows that, in comparison with their European counterparts, the share of Argentine SMEs’ long-term financial debts in total financial debts is low, which has a negative impact on improvements in production capacity and competitiveness (which depend on long-term loans).

Furthermore, financing costs are higher in Argentina than in Europe. On the other hand, virtually all European companies have access to bank credit, while only a third of their Argentine counterparts can obtain such funding.

For more information on the status of Argentine SMEs, visit the Observatorio PyME website (in Spanish).