The amount of money lent to businesses through the government's Enterprise Finance Guarantee (EFG) scheme dropped by almost 60% during the past 12 months, official figures reveal.
Loans to SMEs under the EFG initiative, introduced by the Labour government to help firms through the recession, totalled £149m in the second quarter of this year, down from the £189m lent in the first three months of 2010 and a 59% drop on the £254m handed out to businesses during the first quarter of 2009.
The official Department for Business, Innovation and Skills figures were obtained under a freedom of information request by Aldermore, a new bank which targets SMEs. CEO Phillip Monks said: "SMEs need the government to act now to iron out the problems within the scheme and incentivise lenders to lend more through this scheme.
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