More than 138,000 microcredits worth 1,115 million euros, which contributed to creating 28,521 direct jobs, 63% more than in 2022. This is the 2023 balance of MicroBank, CaixaBank's social bank, which also granted 6,453 loans to sectors with social impact, such as education and the social economy, for an amount of 268 million euros.
Taking into account these loans and microcredits aimed at both addressing specific needs of families and the creation or consolidation of businesses, the entity granted social impact financing worth 1,383 million euros in 2023, 36.2% more than the previous year. This is according to a study on social impact prepared by KPMG Asesores and Stone Soup Consulting, which estimates the impact of businesses supported by MicroBank at 4,468 million. This figure, which represents an 8.7% growth compared to 2022, includes 2,266 million in direct impact, and 2,202 million that indirectly or inducedly impacted the Spanish economy.
This impact was generated in a year in which 8,621 businesses were started with the financial support of MicroBank, compared to 5,876 the previous year. The entity's main contribution to the labor market in 2023 was through self-employment, and 29% of businesses created new jobs after the financing was granted. And it is that "micro-enterprises and entrepreneurs play a fundamental role in the axis of the productive fabric and in the country's economy," claimed the entity's general director, Cristina González Viu.
The entity granted social impact financing worth 1,383 million euros in 2023, 36.2% moreMost of the employment linked to business activity with MicroBank financing fell into professional services, with 39% of the total. Retail trade represented 23%, while hospitality and catering accumulated 20%, and construction, 9%. The rest was distributed mainly between the primary sector and new technologies. MicroBank, which has CaixaBank as its sole shareholder and is supported by European institutions, favored the activity of groups such as young people under 35, women, and people in a previous situation of unemployment with its microcredits and loans, in line with the entity's will to contribute to the advancement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
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