A new £136 million fund to help small and medium sized businesses grow has been launched by the Welsh Government.
Economy Secretary Ken Skates said the money, which will be made available for the next seven years, will complement a planned new development bank for Wales.
Mr Skates said:“I am committed to creating a fair and prosperous economy that benefits everyone in Wales – and that means increased support for our businesses.
“The Wales Business Fund will mean Welsh SMEs can collectively access up to £136m of financial support over the next seven years, ensuring they are well-placed not only to develop their home markets but also to compete internationally.
“This support will be complemented by the establishment of the Development Bank for Wales which will further support Welsh businesses to access finance and ultimately help us to safeguard and create jobs right across Wales.
“Our work to establish the development bank is progressing well and we have now received a fully-costed business plan from Finance Wales which would see them evolve into the Development Bank for Wales.
“Work is now ongoing to fully evaluate the costs and benefits of that plan with a view to the bank being up and running in the second half of next year.”
The fund is backed by the Welsh Government and the European Regional Development Fund.
While welcoming the launch of the fund, both Plaid Cymru and the Welsh Conservatives have questioned its scope.
Plaid Cymru Finance and Economy spokesman Adam Price said: “Whilst any funding to support small businesses is to be welcomed, the £136m announced by the Welsh Government is considerably less than the £500m funding gap identified by its own report, so this is far from being a silver bullet to solve the problem that Welsh businesses face.”
Welsh Conservatives Economy spokesman Russell George said: “If the Welsh Labour Government really wants to help small firms then they should have made good on their promises to cut business rates, and they should get cracking with the vital work of upgrading Wales’ creaking transport infrastructure.”
Welsh Labour trying to make out that they are generously giving away money from their own coffers , no this is European Funding, this is a tiny percentage of the billions of pounds already given and already promised to the people of Wales from Brussels, and in a few years this European funding will stop because Welsh Labour failed to convince it’s voters to vote to stay in Europe, so please Welsh Labour do not attempt to take credit for something that is not of your doing, this is simply money being given by Brussels due to the poor state and deprivation that Labour has allowed Wales to fall into.