SFA IN TALKS ON LOAN GUARANTEE SCHEME - The Small Firms Association is calling for Government action in three areas to help small businesses: a loan guarantee scheme to ensure access to credit; a "one-stop shop" for all State supports available to small firms; and a social welfare "safety net", so business owners could pay a voluntary additional PRSI payment to qualify for benefits.
The association's chairman Ian Martin said talks with the Government on implementing a loan guarantee scheme were continuing. He said such a scheme should apply to all businesses, with risk shared between the business borrowing the money and the Government.
Mr Martin said that business owners are optimistic about their own prospects despite a tough domestic economy, but worried about the potential effects of the euro zone debt crisis. He added that volatility in the euro - and its knock-on effect for commodity prices - was also very worrying for small firms.
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MARKETS AWAIT DETAILS ON EURO PLANS - Stock markets around the world are higher this morning, believing that an ambitious euro zone rescue plan is taking shape.
But KBC economist Austin Hughes said Europe had a habit of over-promising and under-delivering, and it was still unclear how Europe would resolve the Greek crisis and the banking problems.
He said the markets needed European officials to be speaking "from the same hymn sheet", as differences between Germany and the ECB were already emerging. The economist said Greece needed to be dealt with, and not keep returning as an issue every couple of months.
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CURRENCIES - The euro is trading at $1.35 and 86.9p sterling.
