Only 2.4% of SMEs and 2.1% of the self-employed have tried to access Next Generation funds

• The Government accelerates the request for European loans when there are still 23,900 million to execute

The slow execution of the

is not only due to the administrative bottleneck, the bureaucratic obstacles and the lack of personnel in the public sector, but there is also a

Since the first calls were launched in 2021, only

and only

have tried to access them.

This follows from the first

prepared by

based on surveys and presented this Tuesday, which states that although "the EU has put funding on a tray for the growth of small and medium-sized companies that it intends to promote all levers (...) Surveys indicate that only 2.4% of companies have applied for Next Generation funds and

The report defines an SME as any company with

with a turnover

and a balance sheet of less than 43 million.

"In Spain, this type of company accounts for 99.8% of the business fabric, compared to 98% in the United Kingdom and 97% in Germany, and contributes 65% of the Gross Domestic Product," they point out.

According to the Statistics of Companies registered with Social Security, from the Ministry of Labour, Spain has

with

.

If only 2.4% of them have requested the funds, then this means that

will have completed an application.

There are also

that do not have

, of which

, according to the survey, would also have tried to access the calls and tenders financed by Europe.

The companies with

are those in which requests abound the most: 12.8% of those that enter more than 5 million annually have requested them, while 8.6% of those that have operation more than 3 years have tried to use them.

The

of production processes is the main objective of six out of ten of those who have requested or plan to do so, as well as

-an objective of 38% and 33%, respectively-.

"Spain has a golden opportunity to become a hub for digital services.

can provide the necessary push to

, with transformations that go through modernizing architectures and connectivity through dynamic networks that guarantee the efficiency of new work models and collaboration based on technology", they point out.

The possibility of resorting to these transfers is more present in SMEs (16.9% think of doing so in the coming months) than in the self-employed without employees (only 5.2% consider it), which "shows

offered by government bodies," the report states.

The incidence of

during the pandemic was much higher than that of European funds, since

and

as well.

Risks for SMEs

The KPMG report for Hiscox highlights that "what differentiates the Spanish business fabric is the

of the spectrum, forming a distribution more similar to that of countries such as Portugal, Greece and Italy, which that of countries such as Germany, France or Austria (...) The problem with the prevailing business distribution in Spain is that,

due to their difficulty in financing themselves and that , in Spain, are mainly focused on a sector as cyclical as services".

The

due to the rise in interest rates is the main

for

as well as the

(the main risk for 39.4%) and

problems of business (33.8%).

Inflation

is

of those surveyed, "above all, it is a concern in the industrial sector and, specifically, in young companies, with less bargaining power. The second greatest concern is

, which is a concern on all to the same type of companies, due to its effect on inflation".

These problems mean that

, and the solution is to increase their size in order to achieve better cost structures, greater productivity and competitiveness," they point out.

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