Amid the hype around Project Merlin and the banks last week, the announcement from BIS of four new schemes http://bit.ly/gglodF specifically to help exporters seems to have got somewhat lost in the noise.
On the face of it, all four of the schemes have merit. They are designed, in simple terms, to enable businesses greater access to trade finance and insurance against credit risk where such help may not be available from the private sector.
As always with such initiatives, the devil is in the detail which I fear the headline announcement masks. It seems the circumstances in which the schemes will be available are limited, and the benefits will - in turn - also be restricted to a few rather than the many. Previous forays by government to support exporters have not been spectacularly successful; they have tended to be overcomplicated, and as a result, under-subscribed.
Export growth is crucial in the recovery we so desperately need, and schemes like these need to be visible, understood, and used; they need to be simple and easy to apply for; and they need to be flexible so their impact is maximised. The intention is laudable, and I don't want to write these off just yet. But there is a tendency for government to fail in its follow-through, and this time they need to listen and respond positively and quickly to feedback so the objectives of driving exports and aiding economic recovery in the UK can be met.
Businesses don't grow through sound bites. Behind the rhetoric, there need to be real and tangible measures of support.
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