NFB welcomes renewed focus on small business lending
The NFB welcomes the move by the Bank of England to limit the scope of the Funding for Lending scheme to focus on small business lending.
Government intervention, through schemes such as Funding for Lending and the Help to Buy equity loan scheme have been driving house building activity which increased by 15.6 per cent in the three months to September 2013 compared with the same period in 2012.
Julia Evans, chief executive of the National Federation of Builders, said: "Funding for Lending, indeed any real lending, has been bypassing construction SMEs, so instead of offering cheap mortgages, banks will now have to pay greater attention to small business, especially those in construction which have always found themselves at the back of even the SME queue."
Julia Evans continued: "With housebuilding driving construction growth, there is real concern that those in receipt of government funding would not be able to sustain that growth. This is a chance to see what happens to construction growth when the stabilisers come off."
