IOE&IT Director General, Marco Forgione, has called for “granular details” of how business can access the financial support promised by Government during the Coronavirus crisis.
Speaking on a Facebook Live Stream hosted by Barclays, Mr Forgione repeated a call for Government to clarify support for the road haulage sector, which he described as the “engine room” of supply chains during the outbreak.
He said there is going to be “a significant lag” in supply chain efficiency, saying that China’s road haulage sector is still operating at 20% of its full capacity and referring to the 80km tailback of goods traffic in the Brenner Pass between Austria and Italy.
He said supply chains will “fundamentally change” and that businesses need to plan for the future as well as the current outbreak to ensure they do not become “too reliant on one country in their supply chains.”
Mr Forgione said:
“We broadly welcome what the government is doing but we need to get down to the granular details.
“Road hauliers are now the engine room and we've not yet heard about support for this sector.”
Marco was joined on the panel by Ian Rand, CEO of Barclays Business Banking, and Torsten Weller, China Policy Analyst at the China Britain Business Council.
The panel, which took place on March 18th, was hosted by Ian Workman, and attracted just under 1000 listeners.
Mr Rand said that these were “unprecedented times” and encouraged businesses to “reach out” to their banks now and not to wait for details of the Government’s support schemes to get help.
