Source: CBS News
May 11, 2020
The emergency funding flowing from a federal program that has distributed over $500 billion to small businesses affected by the coronavirus has slowed to a trickle. The volume of loans approved through the Small Business Administration’s Paycheck Protection Program dropped 84% last week, to an average of roughly 52,000 loans a day, according to new SBA data. The previous week, the program was averaging 442,000 loan approvals a day.
The sharp slowdown in PPP participation could offer another hurdle to the battered U.S. economy, where unemployment around the country has soared to nearly 15% — the highest rate since the Great Depression.
Banks have approved a total of $530 billion Paycheck loans, which provides small businesses with 500 or fewer workers with low-interest, forgivable loans. But more than 90% of that money was approved in the first three weeks of the program, with only $13 billion in loans earmarked for distribution last week.
