
Micro businesses, or small businesses, received fewer loans in August. Referring to aggregate data from the Bank of Albania, the value of loans to micro-businesses at the end of the eighth month has decreased by 2.6% compared to July. Specifically, the amount of loans received by businesses reached 26 billion ALL in August, about 689 million ALL less than the previous month.
Most micro-businesses are small family enterprises, which generate very low profits compared to other types of enterprises. They can have a maximum of 5 employees, but there are also micro-businesses which operate with only one person, who is the owner, but who also performs other activities in his business.
This type of business prefers long-term loans, where the latter accounts for 62% of the total loan or almost 16 billion ALL, while the medium-term loan constitutes about 21% of the total amount of the loan, specifically 5.4 billion ALL, and the short-term loan up to a year only 17% or 4.5 billion.
Regarding the type of currency, the loan received in foreign currency by micro-businesses dominates. From the official statistics of the Bank of Albania, it appears that the loan received in the national currency was about 10.1 billion ALL, while the loan received in foreign currency was about 16.2 billion ALL.
A good part of the loans of this business are supported by non-banking financial institutions, because second-tier banks often perceive them with a higher level of risk than small, medium, or large businesses.