Disaster loan program restricted to agricultural businesses after overwhelming demand
The Small Business Administration has significantly restricted its Economic Injury Disaster Loan and Advance program due to high demand and money limitations.
The EIDL program is separate from the Paycheck Protection Program, which has had its own issues. The program has been given billions of dollars thanks to congressional stimulus bills to help Americans recover from the financial hardships of the coronavirus pandemic.
“At this time, only agricultural business applications will be accepted due to limitations in funding availability and the unprecedented submission of applications already received,” the Small Business Administration said on its website.
As of April 24, 284 loans had been approved in Kentucky for nearly $49.7 million, according to data from the Small Business Administration. It had also processed 9,356 loan advances in Kentucky for over $38.4 million.
The advances of up to $10,000 each are designed to help provide relief to affected businesses and do not have to be repaid, according to the Small Business Administration’s website.
As of April 24, there had been nearly $8 billion in loans processed and nearly $5 billion in advances processed nationwide, according to the Small Business Administration.
The Small Business Administration defines agricultural businesses as those involved in the production of food and fiber, ranching, and raising of livestock, aquaculture, and all other farming and agricultural related industries.
The businesses also need to have 500 or fewer employees to qualify, according to the Small Business Administration.
Before restricting qualified businesses, the Small Business Administration had promoted that businesses could receive up to $2 million in loan support. That cap has since been slashed to $150,000, according to the Washington Post.
But it may have never been likely that businesses even got that much. Politico previously reported that maximum loans would likely be closer to $25,000 to $35,000.