A business group has published the actions it wants Welsh and Uk governments to take as Wales comes out of lockdown.聽
The FSB聽has found that 70% of firms in聽Wales聽have experienced a very negative impact on cash flow as a result of the pandemic.
Their research also showed a third of firms had concerns about whether they would be able to reopen following the pandemic.
Ben Francis,聽FSB聽Wales聽Policy Chair, said: 鈥淚t is not possible to overstate the immediacy of the situation facing聽Wales鈥 businesses. These are the firms that invest in our local economies, create jobs and have done so much to help support our communities through the outbreak.
鈥淔or聽Wales聽to be successful in a post-coronavirus world, we will need our smaller firms. That means that those firms need us today.

鈥淒ata shows us that firms are facing significant challenges, and yet they are still doing everything that they can at this time to support their communities.聽
"Businesses in聽Wales聽clearly are in and of their communities. We would be so much worse off without them, and so we must take action to protect these firms and help them restart 鈥 for the sake of our economy and our population as a whole.鈥澛
FSB聽has today published a new paper - Reopening聽Wales - and has identified a number of actions that聽Welsh聽Government should take to support smaller firms as they begin to ease restrictions.
These are the seven key actions:聽
- Business聽Wales聽should provide advice and guidance on the 2 metre rule and social distancing.
- Welsh聽Government should introduce a Social Distancing Grant Fund.
- Welsh聽Government should support tourism firms with a Tourism Hibernation Scheme.
- Funding should be refocused on town centre regeneration.
- A cybersecurity campaign to keep businesses safe online.
- A focus on the HR Support firms will need.
- Welsh聽Government should take action to address late payments.
They said in addition to this, there is a role for 海角视频 Government in terms of relaxing聽Welsh聽Government鈥檚 borrowing limits and to provide clarity on the Shared Prosperity Fund.
The group said it must be made clear that聽Wales聽will receive the same amount of funding, and that this money will be under the control of聽Welsh聽Government, in order to provide聽stability聽moving forwards.
Ben Francis added: 鈥淲e want to present聽Welsh聽Government with positive ideas to contribute towards a plan for how businesses can be supported to come out of lockdown, because there must be a plan to assist firms as they seek to navigate such uncertain terrain.
鈥淭he pandemic has caused an unprecedented strain on聽Wales鈥 smaller firms, but there is now an opportunity to look at how we ensure that the post-lockdown period is as successful as possible.
鈥淥ur tourism firms, for example, will have to take a very different approach to how they work for this season and into the next.
"There are ways for聽Welsh聽Government to support these firms and ensure that they can still come back next season despite having lost a significant amount of income this year, and a Tourism Hibernation Scheme is one way to do this.
"These are difficult questions that must be answered by聽Welsh聽Government to ensure that we can all benefit from the contribution of聽Wales鈥 smaller firms, and at聽FSB聽we want to contribute towards how we answer those questions.鈥