UKEF CEO response to the Autumn Statement 2023
In the Autumn Statement 2023, the Chancellor announced plans to offer additional support for SMEs to access global markets through UK Export Finance (UKEF). UKEF CEO Tim Reid shares his response in a statement below.
UK Export Finance Chief Executive, Tim Reid said:
I welcome the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement that unveils UKEF’s intent to step up its work to support small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs). We’re reviewing the products available for SMEs and enhancing our support offer to ensure that we can help more firms to realise their global ambitions.
As Chief Executive, my priorities of ‘growth’, ‘customers’, ‘people’ and ‘impact’ very much align to giving more support to businesses of all sizes to ensure that no viable export fails from a lack of finance.
Smaller enterprises represent over 99 per cent of our business base, and these firms across all sectors harbour enormous exporting potential. They will be instrumental in the UK hitting £1 trillion in exports by 2030. We’ve made great progress in the last year alone working together with our partners to help drive long-term growth and sustainability across sectors. UKEF provided £6.5bn in financing and supported more SMEs across all corners of the UK than ever before in 2022/23. We also grew our presence in more nations to seek out new opportunities for exporters and expanded our offer, particularly through our General Export Facility, with more banking partners.
But we’re determined to go even further. That’s why we’re reviewing our products and services to ensure that they are more accessible. We will reveal more about our plan in the New Year. I look forward to working closely with our partners in industry to unlock the vast exporting opportunities for British firms.
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