Chancellor to be grilled by Treasury committee on how he expects small firms to repay their mountains of debt taken on in pandemic
Rishi Sunak will be grilled by the influential Treasury committee this week on how he expects small firms to repay their mountains of debt taken on in the pandemic.
The committee chairman, Mel Stride, will question the Chancellor on Thursday about the risk to the economy posed by small firms saddled with emergency loans and other debt. The MP said: ‘I have a strong suspicion that a lot will be in a much more fragile state being loaded with debt.
Grilling: The committee chairman, Mel Stride, will question the Chancellor about the risk to the economy posed by small firms saddled with emergency loans and other debt
‘The issue of debt recovery among small firms is particularly important because, if it goes wrong, vast waves of companies are going to go under.’
He mooted the idea of profitable firms repaying loans earlier than struggling ones, akin to the student loans scheme, where successful graduates pay off their debt faster.
Stride’s comments come after Sunak announced a new ‘recovery loan’ scheme in last week’s Budget for small firms to replace bounce back loans and the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme.