"Who's a clever badger, then?"A Treasury spokesweasel declared that the Enterprise Finance Guarantee was a great success.
So far all of £12 million has been lent by one bank through the scheme, which has been set up with a BILLION pounds. So just 0.012% of Gordon's much trumpeted help is actually working.
However, the spokesweasel went on to explain, "The EFG achieved it's aim almost immediately, as it got a very good press coverage. We are also delighted that the banks are being so slow to take it up and actually lend money to small businesses, so we don't have to actually pay much out when the small businesses go bust. It's a win-win!"
The Penguin
There was an item on Radio 4 last week in which several small businessmen attested that their banks had not been briefed on the scheme.
ReplyDeleteMost were still not being lent money while others had previous offers withdrawn.
I take your point Penguin that the scheme has attracted much media attention, thus showing the government doing something, but has failed to do very much with a large amount of cash ( just like " Warm Front " and heating vulnerable peoples homes ).