Interest Rates: Companies

Question

The Government has introduced a number of measures to financially support businesses. These include:

• the Energy Bills Discount Scheme (EBDS) provides all eligible businesses and other non-domestic energy users with a discount on high energy bills for 12 months from 1 April 2023 until 31 March 2024.
• At Autumn Statement we announced a Business Rates package worth £13.6bn over the next five years to support high streets and protect businesses from large bill increases.
• the Recovery Loan Scheme has been extended until June 2024, providing businesses with up to £2 million of government guaranteed finance.
• Increasing the Employment Allowance from £4,000 to £5,000, which means that businesses and charities who had employer NICs bills of £100,000 or less in the previous tax year will be able to claim up to £5,000 off their employer NICs bills.

Monetary policy is the responsibility of the independent Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Bank of England. The Bank of England has the Government’s full support as they take action to return inflation to the target of 2% inflation in the Consumer Prices Index (CPI).