Ángela de Miguel, president of CEPYME (the Spanish Confederation of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises), has brought a striking figure to the table: nearly one-third of Spanish SMEs are in the red. This was already the case in 2024, and since then, the situation—driven by tax pressure, rising wages, and inflation—has only worsened. The data used by CEPYME to support this claim comes from the Bank of Spain’s Central Balance Sheet Data Office, which utilizes information from 656,608 companies (covering 45% of the Spanish business fabric).
According to the Central Balance Sheet data, at the close of the 2024 fiscal year, 182,456 SMEs were in the red, recording a total loss of €6.222 billion, which averages out to a loss of €34,101 per SME. In the case of micro-enterprises (those with fewer than 10 employees and/or less than €2 million in turnover), 173,290 recorded losses totalling €4.648 billion, representing a loss of €26,823 per micro-enterprise.
By simply extrapolating to the entire population, it can be concluded that 405,458 Spanish SMEs were in the red—that is, they recorded losses—in 2024.
