{"id":112024,"date":"2026-03-02T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-02T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/?p=112024"},"modified":"2026-03-02T22:41:40","modified_gmt":"2026-03-02T22:41:40","slug":"credit-demand-grew-in-4q-as-smes-demand-hits-decade-high","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/2026\/03\/02\/credit-demand-grew-in-4q-as-smes-demand-hits-decade-high\/","title":{"rendered":"Credit demand grew in 4Q as SMEs\u2019 demand hits decade high"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"padding: 0;margin: 0;line-height: 1.15;text-align: left\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ent.news\/2026\/3\/42.jpg?resize=1920%2C1280&#038;ssl=1\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding: 0;margin: 0;line-height: 1.15;text-align: left\"><strong>Credit<\/strong><strong> conditions in the UAE remained robust throughout 2025<\/strong> <strong>on the back of a hist<\/strong><strong>oric surge in SME demand<\/strong> and a property sector that continues to outpace the broader market, according to the Central Bank of the UAE\u2019s (CBUAE) <a href=\"https:\/\/ent.news\/2026\/3\/32.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">4Q 2025 Credit Sentiment Survey (pdf)<\/a>. While overall momentum showed slight signs of cooling in some segments, the structural appetite for investment-led credit remains at multi-year highs, according to the survey.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding: 0;margin: 0;line-height: 1.15;text-align: left\"><strong>The most striking development in 4Q is the renaissance of SME credit. <\/strong>Demand from small- and medium-sized enterprises reached its highest level since 2014. This was followed by healthy demand from large firms and government-related entities.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding: 0;margin: 0;line-height: 1.15;text-align: left\"><strong>Business loan demand also strengthened over the fourth quarter<\/strong>, posting a net balance of +24.8 percentage points. More than half of the financial institutions surveyed (52.4%) reported an increase in demand, driven primarily by favorable macroeconomic conditions, a conducive investment environment, and increased working capital needs. The Northern Emirates saw the strongest demand for business loans, followed by Abu Dhabi and Dubai.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding: 0;margin: 0;line-height: 1.15;text-align: left\"><strong>Sector-wide growth: <\/strong>Loan demand rose across all economic sectors, with property development recording the largest increase, followed by construction and the transport, storage, and communications sector.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding: 0;margin: 0;line-height: 1.15;text-align: left\"><strong>Personal loan demand continued to grow<\/strong>, albeit with slightly less momentum than in 3Q, supported by rising household incomes, optimism regarding the broader economy, and a lower interest rate environment following cuts to the CBUAE base rate to 3.65% from 4.4% during the quarter.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding: 0;margin: 0;line-height: 1.15;text-align: left\"><strong>Once again, it\u2019s all about property:<\/strong> Housing-investment loans reached their highest level on record. Other housing categories \u2014 such as owner-occupier loans, refinancing, and renovations \u2014 also remained strong, tracking near record highs, according to the report.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding: 0;margin: 0;line-height: 1.15;text-align: left\"><strong>Looking ahead:<\/strong> Financial institutions enter the new year with a positive outlook, expecting credit demand to strengthen further. Anticipated business loan demand is set to rise to a net balance of +33.8 percentage points. Personal loan demand is also expected to accelerate significantly to a net balance of +31.3 percentage points, led by owner-occupier housing loans, credit cards, and personal (other) loans.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Business loan demand strengthened over the quarter, posting a net balance of +24.8 percentage points<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":false,"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","ep_exclude_from_search":false,"_primary_brand":0,"newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1618],"tags":[159,1391,68,7],"brand":[],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"class_list":["post-112024","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-banking","tag-banking","tag-debt","tag-debt-watch","tag-enterpriseam-uae","wpautop","entry"],"acf":{"mongo_id":"8aac9cdc-665b-46a4-aa95-b892aa02ad3f","order":"9","is_powered_by":false,"story_type":"1","photo_url":"","photo_position":"above","homepage_title":"","full_issue_title":"Credit demand grew in 4Q as SMEs\u2019 demand hits decade high","related_issue":[112010],"teaser":"Business loan demand strengthened over the quarter, posting a net balance of +24.8 percentage points","photo_link":"","related_sponsor":"","voice_url":"","en_translation_ref_id":"","section_story_id":""},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.1 (Yoast SEO v27.1.1) - 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