Moray MP Douglas Ross has welcomed last week’s official publication of figures - during a visit to Scotland by Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak MP - which demonstrated the scale of financial support given to businesses in Moray and across Scotland during the Covid-19 crisis.
Commenting after meeting with the Chancellor Douglas said: “More than 65,000 businesses throughout the whole of Scotland benefitted from low cost loans, preventing a total financial collapse.
“These measures made a huge difference in Moray and I know from speaking with companies who secured these loans just how important they have been. A total of 1068 businesses in Moray secured low cost loans introduced by the UK Government, with 1024 receiving £28,563,098 via the Bounce Back Loan scheme and the remaining 44 receiving £7,039,407 via the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan scheme – a total of over £35m helping local firms through this most difficult period.
“There is no doubt that this financial support has helped businesses through the Coronavirus crisis so far, and kept many afloat, which when added to the Furlough scheme and the self-employed income support scheme has prevented many job losses
“All these measures introduced by the UK Government have made a real difference at a criticial time and I know that here in Moray these schemes have been widely welcomed.”