SME debt levels

SME debt could hamstring the recovery A report from the British Business Bank shows lending to SMEs rose by 82% last year to £104bn, fuelled by emergency Covid schemes. Catherine Lewis La Torre, head of the Business Bank, said that small businesses were likely to divide into those struggling with repayments and those able to borrow and invest in growth. The Federation of Small Businesses said four in ten of those who recently accessed finance described their debt as "unmanageable". The group’s national chairman Mike Cherry said: "More than half of those with facilities say that a student loan approach, whereby repayments are only made once a firm is profitable again, would mark a helpful way forward."