SBA ends fiscal 2011 with record loan volume

The Springfield branch office of the U.S. Small Business Administration backed 422 loans for a record $162.8 million during fiscal 2011, which ended Sept. 30, helping to push the nationwide total to a record $30.5 billion.

The Springfield SBA branch office, which serves 28 counties in southwest Missouri, outpaced its fiscal 2010 figure of $123.5 million made out in 477 loans.

Of the fiscal 2011 total, more than $29.92 million was loaned to 122 startups in southwest Missouri, according to Janice Bowman, who works out of the Springfield office as a business development specialist.

The nationwide $30.5 billion loan mark is the highest in the federal agency's history, surpassing its previous record of $28.5 billion set in fiscal 2007. The year also contained the highest ranking quarter - $12 billion in loans backed by the SBA in the first quarter of the fiscal year, according to a news release.

“Due to the Small Business Jobs Act and a return to pre-recession lending levels, over 61,000 small businesses had access to capital," SBA Administrator Karen Mills said in the release. "As SBA lending levels continue to indicate a rebound in small-business lending, we will work through new programs to fill the gaps created in the marketplace.”

Throughout the country, the SBA backed more than $5.8 billion in loans for more than 16,000 small-business startups, the most since fiscal 2008.[[In-content Ad]]