Small Business Loans Lagging Recovery

If you are a small or medium-size business and have been having trouble getting a loan you certainly not the only one -- no surprise there but it is a bit unusual coming out of a recession.

According to a report to be released tomorrow by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), small business loans in the United States recovered more slowly following the recession than in other countries such as Canada, France and Italy.

OECD studied lending to small business in 17 countries from 2007 through 2010 and found that during the recession lending to small and medium-size businesses declined as a percentage of loans to all businesses. In many countries the percentage of loans continued to decline even after 2009 when the recession technically ended.

OECD reports that unlike the previous credit crunch in 2001, when loans to small business recovered more quickly than loans to larger companies, loans to small businesses declined 6% from 2009 to 2010 and still haven't returned to pre-recession levels.

Latest