Coronavirus: Call for Welsh Government borrowing limits to be scrapped

The Welsh Government has urged UK ministers to allow it to borrow more money to help deal with coronavirus.

Finance Minister Rebecca Evans said the UK Treasury should end "arbitrary limits" on financing spending in Wales.

Later on Wednesday Welsh ministers will announce spending plans to deal with the pandemic.

Around £2.4bn is being allocated to help firms and public services, following extra cash from the UK Treasury.

Currently the Welsh Government is able to borrow £150m a year for infrastructure, up to a limit of £1bn, and £200m a year for day-to-day spending.

Speaking at the daily Welsh Government press briefing, Ms Evans said: "Our capacity and our ability to get money to the frontline has been constrained by the rigid financial rules imposed by the UK Government".

The minister said the Welsh Government wanted "more flexibility to help us respond to the crisis".

"The challenge that we're facing is really huge. This is why we need to make the most of all possible levers that we have," she said.

She said the UK Treasury should end "the arbitrary limits on our borrowing" and also remove "the limits on the amount we can draw down from our own reserves".

When asked whether she agreed with the UK chancellor that Britain is facing a large-scale recession, she said: "All of the evidence and the advice and expert opinions does tell us we are in for a really, really rough time."

Chancellor Rishi Sunak said last week that Britain is facing a recession on a scale "we haven't seen before" and the economy could be permanently scarred.

When Ms Evans was asked how she would prepare the Welsh public for what is coming, she said we can expect a "stop-start recovery".

She said the Welsh Government had "tried as best we can to help those businesses to hibernate" so that firms are ready to trade when the economy begins to recover.