may ). bis central bankers ’ speeches that such demand may signal that larger firms are becoming more willing to provide trade credit to smaller firms that are their suppliers or customers. in the most recent sloos, the net percentage of respondents reporting higher loan demand by large and medium - sized firms rose above 20 percent for the first time since 2005 ( figure 10 ). that said, banks report that loan demand from smaller firms remains fairly weak. only a small net percentage of banks reported stronger demand from such firms. conclusion to sum up, the financial conditions that would be necessary for small businesses to start up and thrive would include positive conditions for personal wealth building and a full range of consumer and business credit availability. in the wake of the financial crisis, small business owners and potential small business owners likely experienced a substantial reduction in the personal resources necessary to start or sustain a business. at the same time, small business loans became harder to get, and when they were available, both price and nonprice credit terms were likely quite restrictive. many small business owners were so convinced that their requests would be denied that they did not even apply for credit. despite this restricted credit availability, small business owners, by a large margin, still considered their most significant problem to be weak sales. although no definitive data source exists, the combination of a variety of recent survey results paints a picture of increasing optimism about future sales and business conditions and a corresponding easing of credit availability for small businesses. bis central bankers ’ speeches bis central bankers ’ speeches figure 4. outlook for general business conditions 6 months from now ( net ) * ( monthly data, 1990 - 2011 ) figure 5. change in standards for commercial and industrial loans to small firms ( quarterly data, 1990 - 2011 ) bis central bankers ’ speeches figure 6. change in spreads of loan rates over cost of funds to small firms ( quarterly data, 1990 - 2011 ) bis central bankers ’ speeches figure 8. paynet / thomson reuters sbli percent change vs. year prior ( monthly data, 2006 - 11 ) sbli small business lending index. source : paynet / thomson reuters. figure 9. paynet / thomson reuters small business lending index ( monthly data, 2005 - 11 ) bis central bankers ’ speeches bis central bankers ’ speeches

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