• Thursday, March 28, 2024

Business

New loan scheme to help British companies

Rishi Sunak (Photo by LEON NEAL/POOL/AFP via Getty Images).

By: RadhakrishnaNS

BRITAIN will on Tuesday (6) launch a government-backed loan scheme to help companies access finance as the economy reopens from a strict lockdown, offering maximum loans of £10 million ($14m).

Finance minister Rishi Sunak said the loans, ranging from £25,001 to £10m, would replace existing Covid-19 programmes and be on top of a grant scheme that has been launched to help companies restart trading.

The scheme will be administered by the British Business Bank, with loans available through commercial lenders and the government providing an 80 per cent guarantee. It will run until the end of this year and interest rates will be capped at 14.99 per cent.

The government is urging lenders to keep rates down to protect jobs. The government said so far its emergency loans had supported more than £75 billion of financing.

“As we safely reopen parts of our economy, our new Recovery Loan Scheme will ensure that businesses continue to have access to the finance they need as we move out of this crisis,” Sunak said.

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