The Council of Small Business of Australia (COSBOA) has attacked the banks for failing to pass on interest rate cuts to small businesses and said their behaviour will cause unemployment to rise.
“Small business didn’t cause this financial crisis, but we suffer from it. The excesses of big businesses and the failure of self-regulation in the American financial markets are the root cause of the current crisis. The Government has provided legislative protection for the banks yet those same banks refuse to pass on interest rate cuts to small business,” a spokesman for COSBOA said.
The spokesman called on the deputy prime minister to force banks to pass on rate cuts to small businesses.
The banks’ need to increase their share value and continue paying high executive salaries will force unemployment to rise, according to COSBOA.
