What the OECD’s lending figures say about small-business finance
New borrowing rebounded in the 2026 scoreboard, while the amount of credit firms had outstanding stayed broadly flat.
New lending and outstanding debt tell different stories about how small businesses are financed. In the OECD’s 2026 scoreboard, the median change in new lending to small and medium-sized firms was an increase of 5.7% in 2024, following a 9% decline in 2023. Outstanding loan balances broadly stagnated.
New lending measures credit issued over a period. Outstanding balances include loans from earlier years and fall as businesses repay them. The OECD says repayment of pandemic-era loans is one reason the two measures can move differently.
Borrowing also remained more expensive than before the pandemic in many of the economies the OECD examined. The report distinguishes short-term credit for day-to-day operations from longer-term loans often used to buy equipment or expand. Across a smaller group of countries with available data, the real volume of long-term small-business loans had fallen 11% since 2021.