L-Bank is increasingly supporting Southwest companies
January 12, 2024, 11:27 a.m
Promoting companies is one of L-Bank’s main tasks. Last year the total funding amount decreased. However, loans for companies with financial problems increased significantly.
The logo of the Landeskreditbank Baden-Württemberg (L-Bank – State Bank for Baden-Württemberg) can be seen on a window of the headquarters. © Wolfram Kastl/dpa
Last year, L-Bank increasingly provided support to Baden-Württemberg companies with financial problems. The committed volume of liquidity loans has more than tripled to around 404 million euros, as the financial institution announced on Friday in Karlsruhe. In 2022 the sum was around 120 million euros. The promised credit volume of last year has not even come close to being achieved in any of the previous economic crises. The money was used to help 732 companies cover their acute financial needs.
After cautious optimism in the first quarter of last year, the mood and expectations of companies in the southwest deteriorated from quarter to quarter, L-Bank said. The state-owned institute cited high inflation, rising interest rates as well as persistently high energy costs and skyrocketing procurement costs as reasons for the financial bottlenecks.
In total, the Landeskreditbank approved just over 3.7 billion euros in low-interest loans and grants for established and young companies last year. Compared to the previous year – excluding the expired Corona programs and special financing – this is a decrease of around seven percent.
“With our funding programs, we make a decisive contribution to stabilizing companies in difficult times and enabling investments for the future,” said CEO Edith Weymayr. The balance sheet shows that the country’s economy is still resilient and strong enough to invest in the future despite the sluggish economy, even in the fourth year of the crisis.
L-Bank supported just over 14,400 companies in 2023. 2,380 of these were start-ups and young companies. The bottom line is that around 9,500 additional jobs were created at the supported companies. Credit institutions like L-Bank manage funding from individual federal states and pass them on – through special programs, for example for digitalization, innovation and sustainability.
© dpa
2024-01-12 22:38:21
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