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No improvement in business lending

Nov 16 2009

Access to finance has deteriorated in the last three months, according to a survey from the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC).

Some 33 per cent of companies report that accessing finance has become more difficult over the last three months, compared with 20 per cent in June.

David Frost, director general of the BCC, says: ‘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.’

However, of the 400 businesses questioned, 64 per cent say that their biggest barrier to growth over the next 12 months is a lack of customer demand.

A recent survey from the Forum of Private Business found that there is still a significant cost barrier when raising finance for one in five businesses.

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