MOST business owners and managers in Scotland are not making plans at the moment to deal with future rises in UK base rates, a survey has found, even though 69 per cent predicted an increase before the end of next year.

The Close Brothers Business Barometer, a quarterly survey that canvasses the views of the owners and senior managers of small and medium-sized businesses, shows that only eight per cent of Scottish firms have at this stage considered taking precautionary measures on borrowing costs.

Mike Randall, chief executive of Close Brothers Asset Finance, said: "We would encourage businesses to put a contingency plan in place to cope with a UK base rate rise as it could have a dramatic impact on their operations, making borrowing more expensive, and impact cash flows as more is needed to service debt."

UK base rates have been at a record low of 0.5 per cent since March 2009.