SMALL BUSINESS FINANCE INQUIRY: BRING IT ON
The Member for Berowra, Philip Ruddock MP supported the Shadow Small Business Minister Steven Ciobo backing calls by a leading national business body for an inquiry into small business financing.
“This comes about after comments in the wake of recent calls by the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry for a study by the Productivity Commission into the competition in the small business finance market,” Mr Ruddock said.
“An inquiry is needed to investigate the changing small business finance market and the Rudd Labor Government’s reaction to that, specifically:
· Why the Rudd Government has failed to pressure banks over the ballooning margins between mortgage rates and small business lending rates;
· The impact of the Rudd Government’s botched bank guarantee on providers small business credit; and
· Why the Rudd Labor Government has had so little to say on banks’ immediate rises in small business rates over the past two months
“Small businesses have suffered by banking principles during the downturn, and the Rudd Government has simply stood by and watched it happen.”
“The margin between residential-secured loans for small business and regular mortgages has ballooned from 0.30 percentage points when Labor was elected to 1.30 percentage points today, Reserve Bank figures show,” Philip Ruddock said.