Chancellor backs new small business loans

Date: 28th November 2011

Small business owners around the UK will be encouraged by a recent announcement from Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne.

Speaking ahead of the forthcoming Autumn Statement, the Cabinet member has announced that the coalition is set to make billions of pounds worth of loans available to small businesses.

Indeed, the Chancellor told the BBC's Andrew Marr Show that credit easing schemes will make up to £40 billion available to the UK's smaller firms.

"The government will underwrite the loans the banks make to small businesses in order to cut the interest rates the small businesses pay," he told the news provider.

"We are making available £20 billion for the National Loan Guarantee Scheme; however, it sits within an envelope that could be as large as £40 billion. These are guarantees. We are not borrowing this money; we are underwriting the loans that are being made."

The news comes shortly after Shawbrook Bank, a new firm dedicated to small businesses, said it will make £250 million available in 2012.

Posted by Emily Smith