Identifying barriers to productive investment and external finance: a survey of UK SMEs

Abstract

This Bulletin documents the findings from a finance and investment decisions survey run by the Bank of England in 2023, in collaboration with the Department for Business and Trade. The survey was completed by 2,885 small and medium enterprises (SMEs). The novelty of the survey is that it links SME’s access to finance and their financing decisions to their investment choices. Furthermore, it also delves into the relatively less explored issue of credit demand that could play a determining role in SME investment decisions.