How goes the lending part of the government’s Project Merlin accord with the banks? Judging by the figures released by the Bank of England today, neither brilliantly nor terribly. The amount loaned to small
and medium enterprises fell to £18.8 billion in the third quarter of this year, from £20.5 billion in the second quarter. But, as the Tory press office has been quick to point out, it still exceeds the equivalent amount dished out last year. And, what’s more, the banks are still on course to meet the
lending targets for 2011 — for both SMEs and companies in general — that were set out in the agreement itself.
Of course, it’s still an open question whether this is a boon for the recovery; a return to the sort of debt dependency that blighted us in the first place; or both.
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