As you know, the Administration has undertaken a number of actions aimed at improving small businesses’ access to credit. Since the signing of the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act in February 2009, SBA 7(a) and 504 loan volumes have increased quite substantially relative to the period immediately preceding the bill’s passage.
Most recently, the Administration announced a small business lending initiative to provide low-cost capital to community banks that submit a plan to increase their small business lending and to Community Development Financial Institutions that serve the hardest-hit communities. A number of these small business lending initiatives are new, and their effects on small business lending cannot yet be measured.