

What is credit tightening?įrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The lowest point of real GDP reached during the business cycle is known as the trough. What is the lowest point of a business cycle? A credit squeeze often occurs when economic growth is declining and/or when interest rates rise. What is Credit Squeeze?Ī situation in which it is difficult to finance through borrowing. When an economy suffers a recession, lenders become apprehensive of lending money to companies due to bankruptcies or defaults. Why is it a credit crunch?Ī credit crunch arises due to contractions in the credit/lending market created by financial institutions owing to a deficiency of funds. These mortgages were mainly in America but the resulting shortage of funds spread throughout the rest of the world. The credit crunch of 2007-08 was driven by a sharp rise in defaults on sub-prime mortgages. Credit crunches can also occur when regulatory bodies increase capital requirements for financial institutions. How a capital crunch caused a credit crunch?īecause banks are required to retain minimum levels of liquidity (capital), when they suffer losses their capital positions are reduced, which reduces the amount they are able to lend out.

Often an extension of a recession, a credit crunch makes it nearly impossible for companies to borrow because lenders are scared of bankruptcies or defaults, resulting in higher rates. What is a credit crunch in finance?Ī credit crunch refers to a decline in lending activity by financial institutions brought on by a sudden shortage of funds. Credit crunch will be used to refer to the situation where loan supply has fallen faster than loan demand, a possible but not a necessary outcome of a capital crunch. We are defining the term capital crunch to include only the bank shrinkage resulting from binding capital requirements.
