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The
SBA has processed about 2.2 million loans worth more than $175
billion since Congress last month authorized more funding for
the Paycheck Protection Program, part of almost $3 trillion in
spending to fight the heavy economic toll of the pandemic, which
has thrown about 30 million Americans out of work.
The second round of funding was launched on Monday, allowing
lenders to issue forgivable, government-guaranteed loans to
small businesses shuttered by the outbreak.
The average loan size in the second round of the PPP loan
processing has been $79,000, according to the statement released
on Sunday.
The U.S. government's $660 billion small business rescue program
has stumbled on missing paperwork, technology failure, and the
misdirection of funds to big corporations. It also faces the
hurdle of forgiving those hastily arranged loans.
The latest data released by the government does not address
complaints around the transparency of the program. For example,
it not include a breakdown of industries that have received
loans.
The pandemic, which has killed more than 66,000 people in the
United States, has shuttered wide swaths of American life,
closing many businesses and schools and leaving hundreds of
millions largely sheltering at home. Over the past week some
U.S. states have begun to allow some businesses to reopen.
(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Bengaluru and Howard Schneider
in Washington; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)
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