Contents
- Canadian small business financing statistics: request rates and approvals
- Canadian small business financing statistics: debt rates, collateral and amounts
- Canadian small business financing statistics: differences by firm size, region and industry
- Canadian small business financing statistics: SME borrowing and credit sources
- Canadian small business financing statistics: Canadian business credit disbursed in H1 2025
- Canadian small business financing: Canada Small Business Financing Program lending and financed assets
- Sources
Canadian small business financing statistics: request rates and approvals
The Credit Conditions Survey (CCS) reports that in 2024, 9% of Canadian small enterprises requested debt financing. The survey defines these enterprises as those with 1–99 employees. Requests for other forms of financing varied: 6% sought leasing, 2% sought equity financing, 24% requested trade credit and 1% requested government financing. These are request rates for separate financing types, not mutually exclusive choices; a business may seek more than one kind. The survey was conducted from January to April 2025 and asked about financing sought during calendar 2024. It reported 1,825 completed questionnaires and a 2.3% margin of error for questions addressed to all respondents. (Credit Conditions Survey – 2024)
Among 2024 debt-financing requests, the approval rate was 89%. The government-financing request approval rate was 79%. The CCS counts a request as approved if it received full or partial approval, so these figures do not mean that every approved applicant received the full amount requested. Average authorized amounts were $191,918 for debt financing and $198,239 for government financing. Those averages refer to authorized financing, rather than the amount initially requested or the amount outstanding. (Credit Conditions Survey – 2024)
| Financing sought by small enterprises in 2024 | Request rate |
|---|---|
| Debt financing | 9% |
| Leasing | 6% |
| Equity financing | 2% |
| Trade credit | 24% |
| Government financing | 1% |
Source: Credit Conditions Survey – 2024. Population: Canadian enterprises with 1–99 employees; financing sought during calendar 2024.
Canadian small business financing statistics: debt rates, collateral and amounts
For debt financing received by small enterprises in 2024, the CCS reports an average interest rate of 8.1% for short-term debt and 6.9% for long-term debt. Its short-term category covers business lines of credit and credit cards; the reported rate excludes credit-card interest. Long-term debt covers non-residential mortgages and term loans, also excluding credit-card interest. The categories therefore describe particular debt products and should not be read as a general rate for every form of borrowing. (Credit Conditions Survey – 2024)
Collateral was required for 52% of short-term debt financing and 78% of long-term debt financing in 2024. The average authorized amount was $85,833 for short-term debt and $288,201 for long-term debt. These measures distinguish the financing received by term, its collateral requirement and its authorized amount; they do not establish why the amounts or collateral rates differed. (Credit Conditions Survey – 2024)
| Debt type received by small enterprises in 2024 | Average interest rate | Collateral required | Average amount authorized |
|---|---|---|---|
| Short term | 8.1% | 52% | $85,833 |
| Long term | 6.9% | 78% | $288,201 |
Source: Credit Conditions Survey – 2024. Short term means business lines of credit and credit cards; credit-card interest is excluded. Long term means non-residential mortgages and term loans.
Canadian small business financing statistics: differences by firm size, region and industry
Debt-financing request rates differed across employee-size groups within the CCS population. In 2024, 7% of small enterprises with 1–4 employees requested debt financing; the rate was 12% among firms with 5–9 employees and 21% among those with 10–19 employees. For enterprises with 20–99 employees, the rate was 17%. This pattern rises across the first 3 listed size groups, then is lower for the 20–99 group. The figures describe request rates, not approval rates or financing received. (Credit Conditions Survey – 2024)
| Employees | Requested debt financing in 2024 |
|---|---|
| 1–4 | 7% |
| 5–9 | 12% |
| 10–19 | 21% |
| 20–99 | 17% |
Source: Credit Conditions Survey – 2024. Canadian small enterprises with 1–99 employees.
The regional figures also show variation in debt-financing requests during 2024. Atlantic Canada recorded 7%, Quebec 9%, Ontario 8%, Manitoba and Saskatchewan together 12%, and Alberta 14%. These are the selected regional observations; they should not be treated as a ranking of regional approval or lending outcomes. The CCS table presents regional groupings, including Manitoba and Saskatchewan as a combined category. (Credit Conditions Survey – 2024)
A separate 2023 survey covers a broader SME population: businesses with 1–499 employees and annual revenue of at least $30,000, with certain sectors excluded. In that survey, 39.6% of businesses with 1–4 employees requested external financing, compared with 80.6% of those with 100–499 employees. These are external-financing rates rather than the CCS’s debt-only rates, and the populations and survey years differ. The figures should therefore be read within their own definitions, not combined into a single time series. (The Daily — Survey on Financing and Growth of Small and Medium Enterprises, 2023)
Canadian small business financing statistics: SME borrowing and credit sources
In 2023, 49.3% of SMEs in the broader Statistics Canada survey requested external financing. Within the same survey, 25.7% requested debt financing. The external-financing measure covers a broader set of financing than debt alone, so the two rates answer different questions. The survey population includes businesses with 1–499 employees and revenue of at least $30,000, while certain sectors are excluded. (The Daily — Survey on Financing and Growth of Small and Medium Enterprises, 2023)
Among debt-financing forms, business credit cards were requested by 12.1% of SMEs in 2023, making them the most common requested debt-financing form reported in the survey. Lines of credit were requested by 10.2%, term loans by 7.3%, and non-residential mortgages by 3.2%. The values are request rates for the specified forms; they do not indicate the amounts requested or approved. (The Daily — Survey on Financing and Growth of Small and Medium Enterprises, 2023)
For their largest debt-financing request in 2023, 88.2% of SMEs received full or partial approval. This approval measure is specifically about each SME’s largest debt request, and it includes partial approvals. It is distinct from the 2024 CCS approval rate, which relates to debt-financing requests among small enterprises with 1–99 employees. (The Daily — Survey on Financing and Growth of Small and Medium Enterprises, 2023; Credit Conditions Survey – 2024)
Canadian small business financing statistics: Canadian business credit disbursed in H1 2025
Supplier-survey data for January through June 2025 show $12.5 billion in credit disbursed to small borrowers and $137.9 billion in credit outstanding for that borrower group. Here, “small” is defined by loan authorization below $1 million. The classification is based on authorization level, not the employee-count definition used in the CCS, and the credit figures describe business borrowers rather than exclusively small firms under the CCS definition. (Biannual Survey of Suppliers of Business Financing – Data analysis, first half 2025)
Medium borrowers, with loan authorization of $1 million or more but below $5 million, received $25.1 billion in credit disbursements in H1 2025. Across all businesses covered by the supplier survey, $200.0 billion was disbursed during the same 6-month period. Within that all-business total, domestic banks disbursed $139.9 billion and other banks disbursed $29.4 billion. The aggregate and institution figures provide context for the survey’s borrower categories; they do not isolate small businesses. (Biannual Survey of Suppliers of Business Financing – Data analysis, first half 2025)
| Supplier-survey measure, H1 2025 | Credit amount |
|---|---|
| Small borrowers: disbursed | $12.5 billion |
| Small borrowers: outstanding | $137.9 billion |
| Medium borrowers: disbursed | $25.1 billion |
| All businesses: disbursed | $200.0 billion |
| Domestic banks: disbursed | $139.9 billion |
| Other banks: disbursed | $29.4 billion |
Source: Biannual Survey of Suppliers of Business Financing – Data analysis, first half 2025. Small borrowers have authorization below $1 million; medium borrowers have authorization from $1 million to less than $5 million. All-business figures cover the survey’s business population.
Canadian small business financing: Canada Small Business Financing Program lending and financed assets
The Canada Small Business Financing Program (CSBFP) made 6,238 loans to Canadian small businesses in fiscal 2023–24. The average loan size was $284,089. These are program-specific measures for that fiscal year, rather than general estimates of all small-business borrowing in Canada. (Overview and Highlights 2023-24 – Canada Small Business Financing Program)
Start-ups and businesses operating for less than 1 year accounted for $1.3 billion, or 73.5%, of CSBFP financing in 2023–24. The financed-asset distribution was led by leasehold improvements: those loans represented $1.1 billion and 61.4% of total CSBFP loan value. Equipment loans represented $363.6 million and 20.5%; real-property loans represented $266.2 million and 15.0%. These percentages describe shares of program loan value, while the dollar amounts give the corresponding reported values. (Overview and Highlights 2023-24 – Canada Small Business Financing Program)
The program’s industry distribution was also concentrated in the largest reported sectors. Accommodation and food services received $859.0 million, or 48.5% of CSBFP loan value in 2023–24. Retail trade received $253.5 million, or 14.3%. These amounts and shares refer to the program’s loan value by industry, not the financing profile of every Canadian business in those sectors. (Overview and Highlights 2023-24 – Canada Small Business Financing Program)
In British Columbia, the CSBFP recorded 699 loans with a total value of $177.9 million in fiscal 2023–24. This provincial observation comes from Figure 1 of the program’s annual overview. It measures the number and value of CSBFP loans in British Columbia during that fiscal year. (Overview and Highlights 2023-24 – Canada Small Business Financing Program)