Small businesses struggling to access finance
Small and medium sized businesses struggling to access finance according to British Chambers of Commerce
Monday, 16, Nov 2009 10:36
By Sarah Garrod.
Small and medium-sized firms are struggling to access finance, despite an extra £200 billion being pumped into the economy to stimulate lending.
A report out today from the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) found a third of companies had struggled to access finance over the last three months, with just three per cent of those firms questioned saying the situation had improved.
In is monthly business survey, researchers found the number of firms reporting difficulties in accessing finance had risen 13 per cent since June, however, the BCC said that despite the results pointing towards continued lending constraints, of the 400 businesses questioned, 64 per cent said that their biggest barrier to growth over the next 12 months was a lack of customer demand.
David Frost, director general of the BCC, said: "Our latest survey results show that the biggest issue facing British businesses is still demand for products and services. This means that any economic recovery is still fragile.
"It is clear that the huge sums that have been injected into the financial system by quantitative easing are still not reaching small and medium-sized businesses in anything like the scale required for business to invest for future success.
"The Pre-Budget Report on December 9th must include measures that encourage companies to invest and improve confidence. Announcing that 2011's planned increase in National Insurance contributions will be scrapped would be a good start."