Minister urges businesses to avail Brexit support measures



[ad_1]

Only ten loans totaling 2.5 million euros were granted to Irish companies under the Brexit government 's 300 million loan program, according to new figures.

This program aims to help companies introduce changes to their business before Britain leaves the European Union, was announced in the 2018 budget with applications officially open late March.

There have been 151 loan applications to date under the program. Ireland (SBCI). Of these requests, 132 were approved for funding.

The Brexit Loan Program allows businesses with up to 499 employees to apply for loans of 25,000 to 1.5 million euros at an interest rate of 4% or less. Working capital is provided by Bank of Ireland, Ulster Bank and AIB, which has only started accepting applications last month.

Loans

Loans can be used by firms to strengthen their product offerings, develop new business opportunities, change their organizational structure or develop new capabilities,

Details on the progress of the scheme were revealed by Business Minister Heather Humphreys in response to a parliamentary question earlier this week.

She said that only 12 funding applications had come from Cavan and Monaghan, who are particularly vulnerable to the impact of Brexit.

Fianna Fáil TD for Cavan-Monaghan Niamh Smyth described the take-up figures as "She stated that with other figures showing that only 2% of Enterprise Ireland's enterprise customers had benefited from the agency's Be Prepared Brexit grant, it appeared that the companies did not receive support.

Ms Humphreys said that Irish companies with organizations such as Enterprise Ireland and offices of the United States, were not in the business. local businesses on the issue of Brexit However, she urged more of them to take steps to resolve potential problems in advance.

"We can only do a lot … there's a lot of support and I'm asking companies to hire it, "said Humphreys.In addition to the 300 million Brexit program, Ms. Humphreys revealed early in the year that 39, year the government is in talks with the European Investment Bank (EIB) on a second loan program that would allow companies to obtain more than seven years of funding. 19659013] [ad_2]
Source link