Banks in the U.S. have extended over $500 billion in loans to small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Small Business Administration (SBA) and the Treasury Department said there is roughly $145 billion left in the fund, according to a Reuters report on Sunday (May 3).
The SBA has processed roughly 2.2 million loans totaling in excess of $175 billion after additional funds were added to the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). The forgivable, government-guaranteed loan program was part of the $3 trillion coronavirus stimulus package under the CARES Act.
The average loan extended in the second PPP round was about $79,000. Some 30 million people across the U.S. are out of work due to the pandemic, according to the report.
The program has experienced numerous issues — technology problems, missing paperwork, the misdirection of funds — and will have to cover loans that were “hastily arranged.”
The latest data released on Sunday (May 3) doesn’t have a breakdown of who received loans or which business sectors were funded.
There are over 1.2 million confirmed coronavirus cases in the U.S. as of Tuesday morning (May 5). There are cases in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and other US. territories. The death toll has hit 69,680. Worldwide, the virus has infected 3.58 million people and killed 252,000.
The first coronavirus cases were discovered in China’s Wuhan, Hubei Province on Dec. 31, 2019, according to the World Health Organization. The cases were first reported as a cluster of pneumonia.
On Jan. 5, WHO published its first Disease Outbreak News about the new virus. The first cases outside of China were reported in Thailand on Jan. 13.
Economists, policymakers and epidemiologists have been modeling the cost/benefit of reopening the U.S. economy since stay-home mandates were instituted in March.
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