France Offers Loans to Small Businesses as Fuel Costs Climb

France’s government is reportedly offering small business loans amid rising fuel costs.

As Bloomberg News reported Saturday (April 4), the loans of up to $57,600 are for small businesses most exposed to higher fuel prices in agriculture, fishing and transportation.

The 36-month loans are limited to companies in those industries that spend at least 5% of their revenue on fuel.

According to the report, the government had already introduced very limited fuel subsidies for sectors like trucking and fishing, while expanding energy support for low-income households. However, France has until now avoided broader, costly measures after steep spending led to a budget deficit the country is still trying to close, the report added.

Bloomberg also noted that French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu had last week asked ministers to prepare ways to help people who rely on cars after fuel prices surged due to the Iran-U.S. conflict.

Higher fuel prices aren’t the only source of friction for small businesses these days. As covered here last month, outdated payment methods are causing some small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) to wait on getting paid.

“If settling an invoice requires extra steps such as downloading attachments, manually entering bank details, mailing checks or navigating outdated portals, buyers may simply move on to the next bill in their queue,” PYMNTS wrote.

“This may be no big deal for hyper-liquid multinationals, but for SMBs operating on tighter margins and thinner liquidity buffers, even small shifts in payment timing can have outsized consequences.”

A few days’ delay in receivables can lead to postponed payroll decisions, pauses in hiring plans or delayed payments to suppliers.

Research by PYMNTS Intelligence and Mastercard, from the report “Ready for Change: Why Nearly Half of SMBs Want to Ditch Cash and Checks,” found that 52% of the payments made by Gen Z-owned SMBs are in cash, despite the prevalence of digital tools.

“Individually, these legacy frictions may seem trivial. Collectively, they create a hierarchy of convenience,” PYMNTS wrote.

Accounts payable teams, like consumers paying their own bills, tend to prioritize the transactions that are easiest to complete. A vendor that offers a one-click payment link or a prepopulated payment form can often gain an edge over those requiring manual processing, making convenience a competitive advantage in the payment queue.

“In other words, the invoice itself is no longer the finish line. The ease of completing the payment has become part of the product,” PYMNTS added.