State backs €150m loan fund for businesses

Hundreds of struggling small and medium-sized businesses are set to benefit from an annual €150m state-backed loan scheme.

The net cost of running the scheme to support three years of lending will amount to over €19m.

The scheme, committed to in the Programme for Government and launched by Jobs Minister Richard Bruton, is aimed at lending to businesses denied funds by banks or where companies have insufficient capital to access loans.