The Treasury has revealed UK firms have now borrowed more than £71 billion from the Government’s COVID-19 lending schemes.

In total, the schemes have supported over 1.5 million businesses across the UK affected by the pandemic.

Some 87,529 firms have been supported by the coronavirus business interruption loan scheme, with loans totalling £20.8bn, while 696 larger firms have been supported with more than £5.1bn by the coronavirus large business interruption loan scheme.

Bounce-back loans were the most widely used of the lending schemes, with around 1.4 million businesses accessing these since their launch in May 2020.

Stephen Pegge, managing director of commercial finance at UK Finance, said:

“As economic uncertainty due to the pandemic continues, many individual businesses and some specific sectors are facing significant and extended disruption and may find themselves in financial difficulty.”

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