Hotels offer premium for state-backed loans

HOTELIERS are willing to pay a 2% premium on working capital loans, if the Government provides a guarantee on 50% of the cash advanced, Irish Hotels Federation president Paul Gallagher said last night.

Mr Gallagher said as many as 150 hotels were in danger of closing in the wake of the decision by British bank Lloyds to close its Irish subsidiary, Bank of Scotland (Ireland) Ltd (BoSI), by the end of the year.

“The Government must move quickly to introduce additional measures to support otherwise viable businesses, including the provision of a state-backed loan guarantee scheme for working capital. While the IHF recognises moves by the Government to increase bank lending, the priority must now be to provide an increase in the flow of working capital credit to enterprises at affordable terms,” he said.