Over 70,000 East Midlands businesses have benefited from over £2.7bn of funding under two biggest Coronavirus loan schemes, reveal new figures from the British Business Bank.
New data published shows that businesses across the East Midlands have received a total of over £2.7bn in funding under the government’s two largest COVID-19 loan schemes, the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme and the Bounce Back Loan Scheme. These schemes provide financial support to businesses across the UK that are losing revenue or seeing their cashflow disrupted by the pandemic.
So far, over 67,000 loans, worth almost £2bn, have been offered across the East Midlands under the Bounce Bank Loan Scheme, which provides a six-year term loan from £2,000 up to 25% of a business’ turnover, with a limit of £50,000.
While over 3,300 loans, worth almost £780m, have been offered across the East Midlands under the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme, which provides business loans, overdrafts, invoice finance and asset finance of up to £5m to businesses with a turnover less than £45m.
Total funding provided to East Midlands businesses represents 7% of the national total, in line with the relative size of the East Midlands’s business population (6%).
Keith Morgan, Chief Executive Officer of the British Business Bank, said: “A key objective for the British Business Bank is to identify and help reduce regional imbalances in access to finance for smaller businesses across the UK. It is welcome to see in the data that these schemes are helping businesses in the East Midlands to access the finance they need to survive and stabilise, putting them in a better position to grow as we move into recovery.”
Businesses across the country, from a wide range of sectors, have benefited from the schemes. Those featuring on the British Business Bank website include a Cambridgeshire-based cooking technology manufacturer, a Gateshead-based health solutions company and a Cornish removals company. Others include a Llandudno-based hotel, a Worksop-based plastering company and a County Down-based distributor of table sauces to food premises.
