NEW £500m Economic Resilience Fund set to benefit those companies that have not yet benefited from the financial support packages announced

The Welsh Government announced a £1.1bn support package for the economy and public services in Wales. The package consists of cash reallocated from existing budgets and new money – already announced – from the UK Treasury.

The main thrust of the announcement was an Economic Resilience Fund. The £500 million fund is made up of two main elements:

• A new £100 million Development Bank of Wales fund will be available for companies experiencing cash flow problems as a result of the pandemic and will provide loans of between £5,000 and £250,000 at favourable interest rate.

Businesses will also be able to benefit from a £400 million emergency pot providing:

• Grants of £10,000 for micro-businesses employing up to nine people. This includes    sole traders employing staff. Qualifying businesses will be able to apply by mid-April.
• Grants of up to £100,000 for small and medium sized firms with between 10 and 249 employees. Qualifying businesses will be able to apply from next week.
• Support for larger Welsh companies, which are of critical social or economic importance to Wales. This element will be open to qualifying businesses within the next two weeks.

Applications can be made online via the Development Bank of Wales’s website. Each business can make just one application, and the loan amount will be based on the number of people employed by the business or a calculation based on profit or turnover. The Development Bank has mobilised all its teams to respond to demand and applications will be processed as quickly as possible.

To prove serviceability, applicants will need to provide three months bank statements for loans of £5,000 up to £100,000. Two years annual accounts, management information and a cash flow forecast will also be required for loans of £100,000 to £250,000. Security taken will be a 20% personal guarantee to a maximum of £25,000 for all investments, and for deals over £100,000 a debenture will also apply.

More information is available here: https://gov.wales/new-500-million-economic-resilience-fund-launched-wales