Responding to the creation of a new Global Britain Investment Fund, Suren Thiru, Head of Economics at the BCC, said:

“Boosting inward investment into the UK can provide the foundations for our future economic prospects for many years.

“There are many businesses involved in the development of innovative, green and cutting-edge goods and services that could benefit from this funding.

“To maximise its effectiveness, we need to need to look at incentivising inward investment across the UK, including addressing the escalating cost of doing business in the UK, increasing access to finance and improving physical and digital connectivity.”

Commenting on the extension to the RecoveryLoan scheme, Suren added:

“Accessing finance remains crucial to the lifeblood of business and so the extension of the Recovery Loan scheme is welcome. The acid test for the scheme will be whether it is able to support the recovery by getting credit flowing to the firms who need it most. The specifics of the scheme must also be better communicated so that businesses and banks can use it to help SMEs return to growth.”

Commenting on the £312 million for the British Business Bank’s Start-Up Loans programme, Suren added:

“We are pleased that the Chancellor listened to our call to support the British Business Bank’s Start-Up Loans programme. With the number of new companies tending to rise during a recession, as we see more ‘necessity entrepreneurship’, it is vital that they have access to the financing they need to grow and create jobs.

“Ministers must continue to ensure that the scheme continues to have sufficient funding capacity to meet any future surge in demand.”