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Ireland above average for supporting SMEs
The Annual Report on European SMEs (small and medium sized enterprises) shows that Ireland has a very positive environment for SMEs, scoring above the EU average in eight out of ten identified areas.
The European Commission report, which is prepared on a yearly basis, looks at the environment for SMEs across main indicators such as entrepreneurship, internationalisation, state aid and public procurement. The report states that Ireland scores above average for eight of the ten indicators, offering a friendly business environment, supporting business with an efficient administration, is responsive to the needs of businesses, and has an innovative and entrepreneurial business culture.
The report acknowledges that conditions remain extremely tough for SMEs in Europe and that further support is needed to yield sustainable SME growth. To this end, the Irish Government has announced a number of important initiatives for SMEs such as the establishment of the Small Business Advisory Group and the forthcoming launch of the Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland to make up to €800m in financing available to SMEs.
The report also provides an overview of the size, structure and importance of SMEs to the European economy and their contribution to growth and jobs. Figures from 2013 show that across the European Union, 99 out of every 100 businesses are SMEs, of which 92 are micro-enterprises. Two in every three employees work in SMEs and 58 cents in every euro of value added comes from SMEs.
Read the Government press release on this report here.
Read the full EU Commission Report here.