Wales needs an additional £30bn capital war chest over the next decade to recover from the pandemic and provide investment to create a greener economy says Plaid Cymru.
Funding for the first phase of its emergency economic revival plan is predicated on the 海角视频 Government agreeing to lifting the Welsh Government's borrowing capacity for capital from the current limit of £1bn (with a £200m annual ceiling) over a five year period to £5bn and front ended.
It would also want investment in human capital, such as in education and training, to be classified as capital investment.
Plaid's economic renewal plan includes:
An employment guarantee scheme for 18-24-year-olds, with a future Wales fund offering a job to every unemployed young person.
A plan to re-skill Wales by giving every unemployed person over 24 a one-off, tax-free payment of £5,000 designed to help them re-skill and find employment.
An all-Wales renewal fund, which it said would be given significantly more firepower if the 海角视频 Government agreed to a £20bn bond issue, through its Debt Management Office.
This is said would provide funding for:
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A national endowment fund, which it said would give universities income to transform Welsh science and R&D and generate new ideas for innovations in health and public services
A green new deal, which it said would create thousands of new jobs through infrastructure investment in clean energy, energy efficient homes and sustainable transport.
Extra support for the Development Bank of Wales to lend and investment in businesses.
Social infrastructure in areas like housing and improved health and education facilities.
With an increased borrowing ceiling and a £20bn bond issue, that would provide £30bn in new capital on top of the Welsh Government's annual block grant.
It would be invested over a 10-year period and repaid over 30-years, with Plaid saying that if in power in Cardiff Bay projects created would generate an income stream, like from debt and equity investments and rental income from new homes, to service the debt.
If it repaid interest and capital on the bonds it would be £940m a year over 30 years. If interest only it would be a bill of £480m per annum - based on a repayment profile of 2.4%. The 海角视频 Government has long-term debt at lower interest rates, and only last month, while granted just on three-year gilts, the interest rate was actually negative.
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If a Welsh Government opted for an interest only repayment profile, Plaid said it would have options to either repay the capital at the end of the 30-year term, or seek to rollover the debt, or part of it, into a new bond issue. This is effectively what the 海角视频 Government does.
On a £5m borrowing capacity, the interest would be an estimated £120m per year, financed from the Welsh Government's budget.
Plaid Cymru Shadow Minister for the Economy, Helen Mary Jones, said: "As we await what could well be one of the worst unemployment figures in over a century, we are reminded that the coronavirus isn’t just a health crisis – it is a devastating economic crisis too. It has also highlighted societal inequalities and the vulnerabilities of day to day living for many people in Wales – and the instability of our current ‘lifeboat’ economy.
“We need urgent action now to protect the people of Wales from what could be the perfect economic storm.
“The current devolution settlement cannot cope with the economics of Covid-19 nor the hard Brexit that is imminent. That’s why the Welsh Government must demand an increased capacity to borrow to invest our way to recovery."
On getting 海角视频 Government approval for increased borrowing and a £20bn bond issue, she said: "We’re confident that we will be able to demonstrate that capital spending by Welsh Government on projects in Wales can be more effectively and efficiently done closer to the ground than by the London civil service bureaucracy.
"In this period the Treasury will be allocating resources to the North of England, as part of its levelling up agenda. In these circumstances Wales must fight its corner. Who would argue that this can be done will be done more effectively by a Plaid Cymru Government than by a tired Labour Welsh Government."