WASHINGTON, July 12 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said on Monday that credit conditions for the country 's small businesses remain "very difficult" and making credit accessible to sound small businesses should be center among current economic policies.

At a Fed meeting entitled "Addressing the Financing Needs of Small Businesses" in Washington D.C., the central bank chief noted that small businesses are central to creating jobs in the U.S. economy.

"Making credit accessible to sound small businesses is crucial to our economic recovery and so should be front and center among our current policy challenges," Bernanke said.

Chairman of the Federal Reserve Ben Bernanke speaks about the flow of credit to small businesses during a Federal Reserve Forum in Washington, July 12, 2010

Bernanke said the formation and growth of small businesses depends critically on access to credit. "Unfortunately, those businesses report that credit conditions remain very difficult," he added.

According to the Fed's data, one measure of banks' loans to small businesses dropped from more than 710 billion dollars in the second quarter of 2008 to less than 670 billion dollars in the first quarter of 2010.
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