The 18 mutual guarantee companies (SGR) injected 1,918 million euros into SMEs and self-employed people from January to September 2024. from all of Spain, which represents 4% more than what they provided in the same period of 2023. They did all this thanks to 16,889 formalized guarantees, which generated investment in the economy of 2,494 million. What also achieved an increase of 4% was the value of the credits and loans that keep the SGR active, which reached a value of 7.812 million euros. This funding has already benefited 179,971 SMEs, self-employed workers and entrepreneurs, thus helping to maintain more than one million jobs corresponding to the beneficiary companies.
SGRs have been fundamental for small and medium-sized businesses in Spain can obtain financing that helps them grow their business, as they struggle to access credit due to high market interest rates. This was confirmed by José Pedro Salcedo, president of SGR-Cesgar: “Even if we are in a slightly more optimistic scenario for companies, with a gradual reduction in rates by the ECB, the role of the SGR seems fundamental so that “SMEs can continue”. to access financing that contributes to their consolidation and growth.
Added to these problems linked to high interest rates is the drop in productivity recorded by businesses. over the past six months, Cepyme has confirmed this. Which means that this situation affects the investment capacity of the majority of the business community in Spain. For this reason, Salcedo recognizes that they want to play a key role in job creation: “In addition, the SGR wants to continue to be a key factor in job creation and we have demonstrated this during these months when we exceeded one million jobs maintained thanks to the funding provided”, adds the president.
From Cesgar they confirm that The economic injection provided to SMEs, the self-employed and entrepreneurs was possible thanks to the relaunch of Cersa (Spanish Rebonding Company), which contributed to SGR participating in the channeling of the Next Generation Funds.
And that’s it, Since 2021, the 18 SGRs have injected more than 5 billion euros from these funds to nearly 30,000 SMEs and self-employed workers, mainly intended for digitalization and sustainable development projects. “It is a fact that the 18 SGRs have become one of the main agents facilitating access to these funds, which contribute to transforming and modernizing the economic fabric of our country,” says Salcedo. Likewise, the government announced 4,500 million euros in subsidies for SMEs and nearly 50,000 million loans through the Addendum, approved for the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan, of which 630 million are intended to strengthen the Spanish guarantee system.
Types of guarantees and sectors
From January to September, financial guarantees (86.3%) were the type of financing most requested by SMEs and the self-employed. It should be noted that the majority were intended for investment (46.3%), although they are down compared to the same period of the previous year (54.7%).
While, Guarantees intended for foreign exchange represent 36.3% of the amount grantedwhich represents an increase of 3 points compared to the same period in 2024 (29.9%). These data show that the need for liquidity is still relevant, despite the fall in production costs and the marked drop in inflation.
Concerning the company’s activity, During the first nine months of the year, the Services sector leads the number of operations, with 48.2%which represents a significant increase compared to the same period of the previous year (55.1%). Behind them are the guarantees provided to Commerce, which represent 18.1%, and to Industry, with 17.4% of operations. Finally, the guarantees granted to the Primary and Construction sectors represent 5% and 11.3% respectively.
