Autumn Statement 2013: Export finance capacity for UK businesses doubled to £50 billion

The Chancellor has announced a doubling of export finance capacity for UK businesses to £50 billion, as part of his Autumn Statement.

He said: “I am ensuring that our excellent new Trade Minister Lord Livingston has all the firepower he needs.”

The Chancellor said he expected the extra £25 billion of potential export finance guarantees to assist not just existing exporters but also “to help smaller firms break into exporting to emerging markets.”

The Government recently reiterated its target of increasing UK exports to £1 trillion and to increase the number of companies exporting their goods and services abroad by 100,000.

Recent surveys have shown that as many as seven out of ten small or meedium sized compnies are unawarae of the kind of Government help they can get for breaking into export markets.