PM economy talks with German leader

12 April 2012

Gordon Brown is due to continue an intense round of international discussions about the global economic crisis when German Chancellor Angela Merkel visits Downing Street for talks.

The Prime Minister will seek to hammer out more details of proposed reforms of the financial system ahead of crunch summits of European and then world leaders to address the downturn.

Their meeting will coincide with the announcement of up to £4 billion in EU loans for small and medium-sized UK firms hit by the credit crunch as part of a massive Europe-wide emergency help package.

The four-year deal will be set out by Chancellor Alistair Darling and Business Secretary Peter Mandelson ahead of talks with European Investment Bank President Philippe Maystadt, UK banks and business representatives.

Mr Brown's spokesman said discussions with Chancellor Merkel would be dominated by the economy and the need to develop a co-ordinated response to the financial meltdown facing almost all world economies.

It comes two days after he travelled to Paris for talks with French President Nikolas Sarkozy and ahead of a four-day trip to the Gulf for talks with oil producing countries.

European leaders gather in Paris on November 7 to prepare their approach to a larger-scale summit in Washington on November 15 which will bring together the world's 20 biggest economies.

As efforts continued to deal with fallout from the crisis, Mr Darling urged UK banks to help get the new simplified loans out to small businesses, which were "vital to the strength of our economy.

"We need to make sure that despite the global credit crunch, they have access to the loans and capital they need to help their businesses grow and develop," he said.

The £4 billion figure has been calculated on the basis of the UK's shareholding in EIB - the EU's bank.

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