State-guaranteed loans “may or may not be” part of the next package of supports to be agreed with the Government for firms reeling from the “extraordinary” Covid-19 economic crisis, AIB chief executive Colin Hunt has said.

The Government will almost certainly have to guarantee ultra-cheap loans for Irish banks to pump into businesses if many small firms are to survive the Covid-19 economic storm, according to economics professor Alan Ahearne, who is an adviser to the Central Bank.