£250m made available to business

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/northern_ireland/7872137.stm

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The Ulster Bank has made an extra £250m available for local businesses.

The money is aimed at small and medium sized firms to help them with cash flow and provide additional debt finance.

It is part of a £3bn package being released by the bank's parent company, Royal Bank of Scotland. The money will be available from 5 February.

Enterprise Minister Arlene Foster welcomed the news and said the scheme would provide "valuable reassurance at this critical time".

"We've been listening to small businesses, they've been telling us they've been having difficulties with their credit, with their cash flow," she said.

"This sort of package allows them to access the help that they need."

However, Northern Ireland economist John Simpson said businesses would still have other problems to tackle.

"The biggest reason that businesses are in difficulties is a shortage of orders, and the competitiveness of being able to supply the orders," he said.

"The fact that money is available doesn't mean that customers will order more goods."

First Minister Peter Robinson said the announcement was a "tremendous boost to the confidence of local businesses in Northern Ireland".

Martin McGuinness, the deputy first minister, said the Executive would "be monitoring all of our major local banks closely, to ensure that support is given to small and medium sized enterprises during this difficult time".