SMBs Come And Get It: $132B Still Available From PPP

There’s still lots of federal cash available for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) in need of a hand up through the COVID-19 crisis.

In a report released Monday (July 6), the U.S. Treasury Department and Small Business Administration (SBA) indicated the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), the forgivable loan initiative, still has nearly $132 billion waiting to be borrowed. The remaining amount was printed at the end of the 18-page report.

Of that number, more than $30 billion in approved PPP loans has been returned or canceled by businesses, a senior administration official told CNBC.

At the end of May, PYMNTS reported at least $20 billion in PPP loans had been canceled, many by small businesses afraid they could not spend the money in ways that would qualify for loan forgiveness.

In his remarks with the release of the data, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin focused on the dollars that were distributed.

“The PPP is providing much-needed relief to millions of American small businesses, supporting more than 51 million jobs and over 80 percent of all small business employees, who are the drivers of economic growth in our country,” he said in a statement.

He said 27 percent of the program’s loans were distributed to companies in low- and moderate-income communities.

Overall, the average loan size is $107,000 and 86.5 percent of the loans were less than $150,000, the report said.

Breaking down the loans, the number of companies that received a loan of $50,000 or under was 3.2 million, 67 percent of the total number of contracts. About 674,000 firms took loans in amounts of $50,000 to $100,000, or 14 percent of the total.

Loans from $100,000 to $150,000 totaled 291,000 businesses, or 6 percent. For loan amounts from $150,000 to $350,000, the number of companies totaled 376,000, or 8 percent. Nearly 200,000 companies borrowed between $350,000 and $1 million, or 22 percent of the total.

The Top 5 sectors to get loans were healthcare, at 12.9 percent; professional, scientific and technical services a close second at 12.7 percent; construction, 12.3 percent; manufacturing at 10.3 percent; and accommodation and food services, 8 percent.

The PPP is “an indisputable success for small businesses, especially to the communities in which these employers serve as the main job creators,” SBA Administrator Jovita Carranza said in a statement. “In three months, this administration was able to act quickly to get funding into the hands of those who faced enormous obstacles as a result of the pandemic. Today’s data shows that small businesses of all types and across all industries benefited from this unprecedented program. The jobs numbers released last week reinforced that PPP is working by keeping employees on payroll and sustaining millions of small businesses through this time.”