Funding for the $349 billion Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) may be depleted, but many financial institutions are continuing to take new applications and process those in their pipelines in anticipation of a new appropriation.
The question seems to be not whether Congress will approve additional funding, but how much and when, given bipartisan support and the unmet demands for loans. While the U.S. Senate isn’t scheduled to meet again until Monday, Democrats and Republicans were reportedly meeting to try to work out a deal.
Karen Mills, the SBA Administrator under President Barack Obama, called on Congress to act as soon as possible to replenish funding with at least $350 billion. Atlanta Federal Reserve Bank President Raphael Bostic said Thursday small businesses may need as much as $500 billion a month to ensure their survival through the coronavirus crisis, suggesting that information could guide discussions on expanding the PPP.
More than 1.6 million businesses received an average loan of $206,000 under the program, with nearly 5,000 lenders participating, the SBA said Friday in a news release. “Nearly 20% of the amount approved was processed by lenders with less than $1 billion in assets, and approximately 60% of the loans were approved by banks with $10 billion of assets or less,” the SBA said. “No lender accounted for more than 5% of the total dollar amount of the program.”