Borrowing is finally getting easier, according to a CBI survey, but don’t bank on it. To shore up their own balance sheets the big banks are planning to severely reduce their lending.
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Sir Richard Branson has sold a third of his spaceship venture at a price valuing the project at $900m. What planet are the buyers on? Abu Dhabi, it seems.
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Hurry hurry while stocks last? Companies that want to issue bonds because they cannot borrow may find the government has got there first.
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The UK economy clearly can’t rely on financial services in the future so we’d better roll up our sleeves and go back to manufacturing. After rescuing the banks, a £5m government loan to LDV Vans thus seems a cheap option.
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The latest budget from Europe’s only other English-speaking country should be studied by Alistair Darling before he delivers his own April statement. The Irish economic measures are the opposite of what the UK chancellor is planning.
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If the government can’t force banks that it owns lend to small firms, how can it make foreign-based credit insurers unblock the flow of funds?

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