May 4, 2020 / DANIELLE KURTZLEBEN
The Paycheck Protection Program has caused public outcry, suffered technical difficulties, and frustrated small business owners. But where, exactly, is the money going?
Over the weekend, the Small Business Administration gave another glimpse into this with a report on PPP activity through May 1. It showed that $175.7 billion in loans had been approved just five days into the program’s second round of funding. That’s on top of the $349 billion loaned out in just 13 days during the program’s first round.
The data suggest that this time around, the loans may be going to smaller businesses, and that there is still high demand. However, there are still big questions about how well the loans are reaching the businesses that need them most.
1) Average loan size has gone down.
The average PPP loan in this second round of funding was $79,000 as of Friday. That’s substantially lower than at the end of the first round, when the average loan was around $206,000.
