Will the Minister provide a date for when the Welsh Government's Economic Resilience Fund will reopen for applications?
Business in Wales are benefiting from the most extensive package of government support in the face of the Covid-19 crisis within the United Kingdom.
In addition to the support provided by the UK Government and the support for the leisure, hospitality and tourism sectors from Non-Domestic Rate Relief and associated grants, our £500 million Economic Resilience Fund is providing discretionary grant and loan finance to help businesses with cash flow. The Development Bank of Wales has already approved over 1,300 loans totalling £100 million and we are currently processing 9,500 grant applications with 5,200 grant offers totalling £69 million already made.
We took the decision to pause the Economic Resilience Fund on Monday 27 April to examine how we use the remaining funding to maximise the benefits for those firms who need it and to protect our economy.
As a government, we have a number of considerations to explore – supporting those businesses which we haven’t yet reached will be a primary concern.
We will provide details of the next phase of the Economic Resilience Fund as soon as possible after the UK Government has clarified the future of the Job Retention Scheme and we have assessed the impact on businesses.