BUSINESSES in Fife need urgent help from the Government to pay their bills if they are to survive the cost-of-living crisis.

That's the call from Alan Mitchell, chief executive of Fife Chamber of Commerce, joining national appeals for more to be done.

He warned that as costs rise, the future of many of the Kingdom's firms has been put in doubt.

"While many businesses fear the worst as energy bills, raw materials and wage costs soar, the silence from our governments on how they will provide direct and meaningful support has been unacceptably deafening," he said.

"The country’s biggest business organisations, the British Chambers of Commerce and Scottish Chambers of Commerce, have given policy-makers very clear guidance on the help that is needed, including direct financial support of the type that was given to alleviate the impact of COVID if required."

Meanwhile, soaring energy bills have been coined as a “potentially existential threat” to Scotland’s engineering and manufacturing firms, with some already facing insolvency, by national trade body Scottish Engineering.

More than 70 per cent of companies who have received increased energy quotes are worried about their ability to sustain their business, according to chief executive Paul Sheerin.

He called for the incoming Prime Minister and their new cabinet to “urgently extend” the energy crisis discussion to include industrial energy costs.

Fife Chamber has confirmed that the Deputy Governor of the Bank of England will be attending their Navigating the Economic Crisis event as the keynote speaker.

The event will provide members with the opportunity to hear from, and question, senior decision-makers.

"But it is quite simple: there is an immediate business crisis to be addressed and the means to address it are at hand – they just need to act," Mr Mitchell continued.

"That is the clear message from every business to any government decision-maker who is listening."

Inflation could reach 18.6 per cent by January 2023, the highest level for nearly half a century, economists at Citigroup have warned, in a more pessimistic forecast than the Bank of England’s prediction of 13 per cent by the end of the year.