PROVIDENCE – After inundating local lenders with applications for federal payroll relief funds, demand for the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Paycheck Protection Program among Rhode Island businesses appears to have dwindled, according to the latest data from the SBA.
Nearly 8,000 Rhode Island small businesses have been approved for $593 million under round two funding as of May 8. A majority, $550 million,was granted to 6,800 applicants within the first five days of the program, versus just $43 million to another 1,000 approved recipients in the next seven days.
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National data also indicates the number and dollar amounts of loans approved has slowed. As of May 8, 2.6 million businesses were approved for a collective $188.9 billion. Of that, 400,000 recipients were approved for $13.2 billion in the last seven days. Roughly $120 billion in funding remains.
By comparison, the original $350 billion allocation in the CARES Act was drained in 13 days, including $1.2 billion for Rhode Island applicants.
The average loan size in second-round funding was $73,000 with a third of loan dollars processed by lenders with less than $10 billion in assets, including community development financial institutions and microlenders. Federal officials have pointed to this data as evidence that the program is reaching the small businesses it’s intended to support after facing criticism that the first round of funding largely benefited major companies.
Nancy Lavin is a PBN staff writer. You may reach her at Lavin@PBN.com.
