One monitor of demand for finance among smaller businesses is showing a rise in demand, particularly among micro businesses. DBM Consultants yesterday circulated findings from its monthly Business Financial Services Monitor for April. Among businesses with an annual turnover of less than A$5 million, those planning to increase debt levels outnumbered those planning to decrease debt by 20 per cent. DBM said this measure was evenly balanced towards the end of 2010. Among micro businesses, or those with turnover of less than $200,000, about one-third more businesses intend to increase their debt than decrease it, the BFSM monitor shows. As the accompanying chart shows, drawn from RBA and APRA data on actual bank lending, the level of new credit approvals to businesses with turnover of less than $2 million lifted in the second quarter of 2010 to around $22 billion. This dipped in the third quarter but lifted again in the final quarter of last year. Total credit outstanding to smaller businesses, however, has bounced around the $200 billion level since late 2008, a reflection of businesses paying down debt quickly. DBM says its Business Financial Services Monitor surveys 19,250 businesses each month.