As the era of easy money and low-cost financing ends, middle market businesses are facing a reckoning.
Rising real interest rates are pushing up the cost of commercial and industrial loans, making it harder for these firms to meet payrolls and finance their expansion, according to findings in the third-quarter RSM US Middle Market Business Index survey. The result is a risk to economic growth across the real economy and, potentially, a recession.
The MMBI survey aggregated the responses of 416 senior executives across a range of middle market companies, and was conducted by The Harris Poll for RSM from July 5 to July 25, 2023.
