Through its academic survey, the Research Centre of the Deutsche Bundesbank is obtaining a picture of the current situation among firms in Germany and gaining greater insight into their expectations for the coming months. Over time, the survey also provides crucial information on changes within the corporate sector.

In the third quarter of 2025, only marginally more firms than in the second quarter of the year reported that they had conducted loan negotiations in the respective preceding quarter (Q3: 15,7 %, Q2 2025: 15.4)

In the third quarter of 2025, the share of firms that had need for credit financing over the past 12 months increased by one percentage point to 28 %. At 54 % more than half of firms continued to report that their need for credit financing had remained the same, whilst an unchanged 18 % stated that their need for credit financing had decreased in this period.

In the third quarter of 2025, 33 % of firms expected that their short-term liquidity would decrease over the next 12 months (Q2: 32 %), an unchanged 48 % expected that it would stay roughly the same, and a likewise unchanged 19 % of firms expected that their short-term liquidity would increase during this period.

Regulation and government rules remained one of the biggest short-term challenges from the perspective of firms: in September, 69 % of firms stated that bureaucracy was a pressing problem. High production and labour costs were considered problematic by 57 % of firms. By contrast, only 11 % of firms recently viewed access to intermediate inputs as a problem; this figure was near pre-pandemic levels again.