Access to Credit in Times of Crisis : Measures to Support Firms and Households

The financial crisis that started in August 2007 has led to a worsening in the conditions of credit supply to customers. Since the second half of 2008, several measures have been adopted in order to sustain access to credit for both firms and households, such as debt moratoria, provisions of guarantees on specific types of loans, and various forms of incentives to increase the supply of lending. The initiatives aimed at firms have been sizeable, involving financial resources up to as much as 5 per cent of total bank loans granted between the beginning of 2009 and September 2011. The corresponding value for households has been more modest, slightly above 1 per cent; this is mainly because of the strict qualification requirements applied to some of the initiatives and to their limited financial endowment