Small businesses eligible for £50,000 'bounce-back loans' under new government scheme

Chancellor Rishi Sunak has announced an offer of 100 per cent guarantees on “bounceback loans” of up to £50,000 for the smallest businesses affected by the coronavirus outbreak.

But Mr Sunak resisted pressure to increase the current 80 per cent guarantee on loans under the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) to cover their full value.

Businesses and banks have blamed the limit to the guarantee for the relatively slow provision of the emergency credit, which has so far seen just 16,000 CBILs loans issued, compared with more than 250,000 in the equivalent scheme in France, and more than 100,000 in Switzerland

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