January 13, 2009

Prime Minister Gordon Brown said he’d unveil his latest plans to try to unfreeze lending this week, conceding that moves last year to take stakes in banks left U.K. businesses and consumers struggling to get credit.Brown, who invited senior bankers to lunch at his country residence yesterday, said he was looking at “every option” to “resume the normal functions of banking,” including using “non-bank institutions.”

“There will be announcements later this week, specific measures to help small businesses get the lending they need and homeowners get the lending they need,” the prime minister told BBC Radio 4’s “World At One” show today. “There will be help for working capital, substantial help for small businesses.”In spite of Brown’s claim last year to have “saved the world” with his recapitalization package, he accepted borrowers were still struggling to get credit.