FLA comment on the Chancellor’s Economic Update

8 July 2020

Commenting on the Chancellor’s Economic Update, Stephen Haddrill, Director General of the Finance & Leasing Association said:

 “While we support the Government’s efforts to get the economy going again, the measures announced today are primarily short-term stimuli, and need to be supported by more substantive plans for long term growth.

 “The FLA will be publishing its own recommendations for the UK recovery next week, which will look at the short, medium and long-term needs of an economy where confidence must first be re-established, then consolidated with investment in new ways of doing business.

 “A sustained recovery will require lenders to play a major role.  But to do so, they need more support, particularly those outside of the Bank of England schemes, because of the scale of assistance they are currently providing to their customers in difficulty – our most recent figures show that FLA members received over 1.8 million requests for forbearance. When furlough comes to an end, millions will remain out of work. Supporting them and the economic recovery at the same time will be a bridge too far.”

  Note to editors:

  1. In 2019, FLA members provided £140.3 billion of new finance to UK businesses and households. £104.7 billion of this was in the form of consumer credit representing over a third of total new consumer credit written in the UK in 2019. £35.7 billion of finance was provided to businesses and the public sector. FLA members financed more than a third of UK investment in machinery, equipment and purchased software in the UK in 2019.
  2. For media enquiries, please contact the FLA press office on 020 7420 9656.

 

 

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