Intelligent SME.tech Issue 20 | Page 15

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// TECH TRENDS //

Combine this with the Bank of England ’ s recent decision to increase interest rates from 0.5 % to 0.75 % and the situation is only looking to worsen unless this debt bubble is popped . Lenders must stop indiscriminate lending and begin to differentiate between ‘ good loans ’ and ‘ bad loans ’; those companies that are nimble and resilient and those that are likely to fall off of a loan default cliff .
This is the only way to break the cycle and to stop compounding the debt issues the UK faces . Resilient companies would be welladvised to take stock of their current capital structure and if appropriate , access fixed term , fixed-rate loans to prevent additional exposure to an increasingly volatile lending market .
Those companies that are agile enough to remove themselves from government support schemes will enter the post-pandemic era with an even more resilient and healthy workforce and will become an intrinsic part of the UK economy ’ s regeneration . The UK ’ s economy simply cannot go on with a ballooning pile of debt-ridden businesses which will impact all our pockets .
Agile companies have a very important part to play in aiding the UK ’ s economy to flourish and as we move into the post-pandemic phase , identifying , prioritising and protecting the most resilient businesses and sectors should be the priority , while acknowledging that many companies are beyond the survival stage . Continuing to leverage SMEs crippled by debt

THE UK SME DEBT BURDEN HAS REACHED AN ALL-TIME HIGH AND THE NUMBER OF WEAK ZOMBIE- LIKE BUSINESSES SURVIVING ONLY TO REDUCE THEIR DEBT PILES HAS EXPLODED .
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