The money, which will come from the European Investment Bank (EIB) through High Street banks, will be made available over the next three to four years in a bid to give small businesses access to loans on reasonable terms.

Financial institutions have been desperate to deleverage as the credit crisis bites and, despite the government's multibillion-pound bank bailout, many businesses still struggle to obtain credit on affordable terms from banks seeking to hoard rather than lend cash.

However, Darling said that while the pool of money available to businesses would be back at pre-credit crisis levels, it would not mean that any business could walk out of a bank with a cheque, regardless of how well it is run.

John Wright, national chairman of the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB), called on banks to take advantage of this new funding and promote awareness of it to small businesses.

"The government must insist more banks apply to the EIB so more small businesses can access the much-needed funds. More than 80% of small businesses use the four major banks yet only one – Barclays – currently supplies EIB finance."

An FSB survey conducted this week showed that a third of small businesses have seen an increase in the cost of existing and new finance over the past two months, and a third also claimed the amount of new credit available had decreased.

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