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By Reinhard Becker
BERLIN, Nov 13 (Reuters) - Germany should be able to avert a credit squeeze, the head of the country's banking association (BdB) said on Thursday, adding financial markets should stablise by the end of next year.
"I am confident that a credit squeeze can be averted," the BdB's head Klaus-Peter Mueller told Reuters.
"There are no problems at all for the Mittelstand (small and medium-sized companies). There have been some bottlenecks as regards large financing projects. It's more difficult there. But I hope for relief."
Mueller said markets should calm down over the next 6 to 12 months.
"We will see stabilisation on a lower level. I think this should be possible by the end of 2009."
The German government has set up a 500-billion euro rescue fund to help banks deal with the international financial crisis.
Mueller said Germany's Commerzbank had taken on the role of a pioneer, when it became Germany's first commercial lender to turn to the government for capital, taking 8.2 billion euros from Berlin to prop up its flagging finances.
"As a profitable bank, it wanted to show that there's no need to be shy of taking up such a programme," Mueller said.
"I think that several further banks will speak up -- from the private as well as the Landesbanks' (state banks) side," he said.
(Writing by Kerstin Gehmlich, Editing by Andy Bruce)