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£41 million is a drop in the ocean

An additional £41 million fund to provide an "economic stimulus" to help Wales deal with the recession has been announced by the Assembly Government.

£41 million looks like a lot of money and I am sure that politicians will make the most of this.

However, let's not forget that, compared to the funding available from the Convergence Fund, it is merely a drop in the ocean.

According to the latest information from the Welsh European Funding Office, only 35 per cent of the £1.81 billion available has been committed to projects.

This means that over £1.1 billion remains to be committed to projects during the period 2010-2013 or around £200-£250 million per annum.

The question is whether how quickly this remaining fund will be spent this year to counter the recession? More importantly, is there any effort by Ministers to focus on fasttracking capital projects to ensure they have an immediate impact on the recession in Wales?

Comments

Anonymous said…
have you read welsh ramblings defence of Iuean Wynn Jones and how wonderful his pro act scheme is?
Wasn't that one of your ideas?
Apparently this quiet but competent man is saving the Welsh economy
July 08, 2009 8:36 am
Professor Dylan Jones-Evans said…
No, I haven't but would you expect anything else from this blog?

A scheme identical to Pro-Act was suggested by this blog on Nov 2nd and also appeared in an article in the Western Mail. However, itw as plain common sense to anyone that this type of support was needed.

However, it should form part of an overall package of stimulus and not be the only device lauded by Ministers to get Wales out of the recession.

Spending a bit more of the hundreds of millions of EU funding would also help, don't you think.

As to saving the Welsh economy, I am happy to leave judgement on this until the end of the year but I am not optimistic, given the latest statistics, that Wales will be in any better shape than any other part of the UK, which is the real test that we are doing better.
July 08, 2009 8:57 am
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