CBI urges help for ‘forgotten army’ of medium-sized businesses
News Article - 25 October 2011
Category:
Industry
The Confederation of British
Industry (CBI) employers' group has called on the Government to
provide more help to the 'forgotten army' of medium-sized
businesses in order to unlock their potential.
The CBI has suggested new measures to improve access to finance
for firms with a turnover between £10m and £100m.
Although these firms represent less than one per cent of UK
businesses, they generate 22 per cent of revenues and 16 per cent
of all available jobs.
John Cridland, CBI director general, said: "Medium-sized
businesses are truly a forgotten army, and now is the time to
unlock their potential. We should be championing, nurturing and
encouraging our mid-sized firms so that more of them grow and
create jobs.
"For too long these companies, which could inject tens of
billions of pounds into our economy, have fallen under the radar of
policymakers."
A Department for Business spokesperson welcomed the CBI's focus
on the nation's mid-sized companies.
"The Government is already focused on this group as part of the
growth review, and we will be setting out our proposals alongside
the autumn statement in November."
Earlier this month the Bank of England injected a further
£75 billion into the UK economy through quantitative easing,
in a bid to encourage lending by commercial banks.
The British
Chambers of Commerce (BCC) welcomed the expansion of the
quantitative easing programme but insist that on its own, its
impact would be limited for SMEs.
David Kern, chief economist at the BCC, said: "Higher QE on its
own is not enough and we urge the MPC [Monetary Policy Committee]
to look at other radical methods.
"There is a strong case for the MPC to help boost bank lending
to businesses by immediately raising its purchases of private
sector assets."
Article keywords:
cbi, sme, uk business
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