21 July 2025

• Firms continued to report declining interest rates on bank loans, while indicating a slight tightening of other lending conditions.
• The bank loan financing gap remained stable, with firms reporting that both needs for bank loans and the availability of bank loans were broadly unchanged.
• Firms’ one-year-ahead median inflation expectations decreased to 2.5%, down from 2.9%, while median inflation expectations three and five years ahead remained unchanged at 3.0%.
• Most firms reported that they had been affected to some extent by trade tensions, with firms exporting to the United States and firms in the manufacturing sector being the most exposed.

In the most recent round of the Survey on the Access to Finance of Enterprises (SAFE), covering the second quarter of 2025, euro area firms reported a net decrease in interest rates on bank loans (a net -14%, compared with 12% in the previous quarter), suggesting that monetary policy easing is being transmitted to firms. At the…