YCF’s readers are encouraged to respond to the Scottish Government’s consultation on the objectives and structure of the Scottish National Investment Bank (SNIB)
The Scottish Government’s 2017-18 Programme for Government committed to establishing a Scottish National Investment Bank to boost Scotland’s competitiveness and provide patient capital to finance growth. This commitment was made on strong international evidence that national investment banks of scale can lead to a strong, positive impact on investment, innovation and long-term economic growth.
The Scottish Government has committed to providing £2 billion over 10 years to initially capitalise the Bank. An Implementation Plan for the SNIB was published in February this year, and the Scottish Government is now inviting responses to its consultation paper on the details of the Bank’s operation. This consultation will help to shape the Parliamentary Bill being introduced in 2019.
SNIB will bring together the financing activities undertaken by and on behalf of the Scottish Government, such as Scottish Enterprise’s Scottish Investment Bank, and the provision of funding for loan and equity finance schemes (for example, under the SME Holding Fund and the Scottish Growth Scheme). The Bank’s activities should also be aligned with non-Scottish Government financing activity in Scotland, including that of the British Business Bank.
The Implementation Plan concluded that SNIB should take a mission-based approach to investment, focusing on areas such as the transition to a low carbon economy. Such projects may require SNIB to play a catalytic role in infrastructure investment (for example across transport, low carbon, housing, real estate,) providing finance that addresses the reasons why the private sector is not investing.
The consultation closes on 31st October 2018, and can be found here:
consult.gov.scot/economic-policy-unit/scottish-national-investment-bank-1
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