Economy minister says Welsh Government is ‘rising to challenge’ of supporting businesses hit by coronavirus – but admits recession is ‘unavoidable’

The Welsh Government is “rising to the challenge” of supporting businesses hit by the coronavirus pandemic, according to Economy Minister Ken Skates.

It was announced last month that a £500m crisis fund was being made available to provide extra support to companies and charities experiencing a sharp drop in trading.

The Welsh Government recently opened up applications to small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs).

Business rates relief has also been offered with local authorities across Wales already processing a large number of applications.

Although he admitted that a recession was unavoidable, the Clwyd South AM said it showed the government was delivering on its promise to assist those affected by the COVID-19 outbreak.

Speaking at the government’s daily press conference, he said: “There can be no doubt of the scale of the economic challenge that lies ahead of us as a result of coronavirus.

“The Office of Budget Responsibility reference scenario depicts UK GDP falling by 35% in the second quarter of this year, so there is no avoiding a recession.

“But to avert a major depression, it is imperative that governments across the UK do everything in their power to shelter businesses through this storm and to protect workers from the very great threat of unemployment.

“As a Welsh Government, we have made a commitment to play our part in that work and that is why we have re-examined our budgets and made tough decisions across every area of government to put in place a new £500 million economic resilience fund.

“Yes, we are a small country with a small nimble government facing a giant challenge, but we are rising to that challenge.”

Mr Skates said grants of up to £10,000 were available for micro businesses, as well as payments of between £25,000 and £200,000 for SMEs.

He added that bespoke support was available for larger businesses of vital strategic importance.

The funding support available through the economic resilience fund is additional to that provided by the UK Government.

Local authorities have already made available 35,000 business rate grants totalling £441m to Welsh businesses, while around 7,500 applications have been made for support from the economic resilience fund.

In just seven days, the Development Bank of Wales has also processed 1,500 applications in comparison to 500 in an average year.

Mr Skates said: “As a Welsh Government, we have attempted to focus our support where the UK government’s package of support is seeing companies and individuals fall through the cracks.

“To put into context the scale of support the Welsh Government is providing in terms of business support, it represents 2.7% of our GDP – a huge commitment buy us.

“In fact, our direct support is now reaching almost one in five Welsh businesses complementing the UK Government schemes for job retention and self-employment support.

“And I do believe that this commitment shows that we are standing by our firms and their employees when they need help most in return.”

For those looking for Welsh Government business help, check out their dedicated website here.

You can view today’s brief along with the Q&A session below:

🎥 Yn fyw nawr | 🎥 Live now: https://t.co/7l1X0f5md2

— Welsh Government (@WelshGovernment) April 22, 2020