LONDON - British finance minister Rishi Sunak bowed to pressure on Monday to do more to help companies survive the coronavirus shutdown, announcing full state guarantees on lending to Britain’s smallest businesses.
Banks handling the loans will not be required to run credit checks or assess the long-term viability of applicants. Firms will have no interest or repayments for the next 12 months. Government forecasters have said the economy could contract by 35% in the second quarter of 2020, and Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Monday it was still too risky to relax the lockdown.
BoE Governor Andrew Bailey suggested this month that 100% state guarantees for the smallest loans might break a backlog in loans applications.
Trump is claiming emergency coronavirus grants from the U.K. government to subsidise his failing Golf resort in Scotland. Why is the British taxpayer supporting the US president, who is clearly fried on drugs?
UK risks 100,000 deaths if the restrictions are lifted Latest updates | cases per million population👇 COVID19 coronavirus
Why not give UK companies direct financial support to redesign themselves to do what companies do best: get bavk to business!