U.K.’s Small Businesses Expose Racial Equality Gap in Covid Era
- Ethnic minorities were hit harder by infections and deaths
- Commission report finds businesses less likely to seek funding
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U.K. businesses owned by ethnic minorities risk missing out on the post-pandemic economic rebound, exacerbating existing inequalities that were exposed by the coronavirus.
A survey by the British Business Bank in October found 61% of Asian and other minority-owned enterprises had paused or permanently stopped work because of Covid-19. The figure was one and a half times that for White-owned businesses. Now a report published on Wednesday by the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities said they were less likely to seek business funding because of “perceptions of a systemic disadvantage.”