ST. LOUIS — Small businesses in Missouri and Illinois have received almost $9 billion in second-round loans under the Paycheck Protection Program, according to updated data released by the Small Business Administration.
In Missouri, 36,808 PPP loans totaling $1.8 billion had been approved through Friday. In Illinois, 101,905 loans had been approved for almost $7 billion.
But despite the fears that the second round of funds would disappear as quickly as the first, the new updates show more than one-third of the $310 billion in second round PPP money remains.
The $349 billion first round of PPP was exhausted within 14 days. But nearly two weeks after the second round opened on April 27, the SBA had approved 2.5 million loans totaling $188.9 billion. That total, as of Friday, leaves around $120 billion in funds remaining from the $310 billion available in round two.
The pool of money is stretching further due to the significantly smaller sizes of the loans.
The average PPP loan in the first round was $206,000. That's fallen to $73,000, which is down from $79,000 in the SBA's previous update on May 3. That's an indication the loans are getting to smaller businesses, the SBA and St. Louis bankers have said.
"The loan amounts for round two are significantly smaller because the self-employed individuals were finally able to apply in this round," said Becky Buhr, vice president of finance at Bank of Franklin County, with $260 million in assets.
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