The Small Business Administration (SBA) has forgiven 1.1 million Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans amounting to over $100 billion, the agency announced Tuesday evening.
“Today’s news is a key indicator that the PPP is working for all small businesses across our Nation,” said SBA Administrator Jovita Carranza.
The PPP was a central COVID-19 economic relief program in March’s CARES Act, offering small businesses forgivable loans to keep workers on the books and stay afloat.
The program was renewed last month as part of the year-end COVID-19 $900 billion relief package, and opened the door for some businesses to apply for a second loan.
But the number of businesses seeking forgiveness was surprisingly low. Of 4.9 million loans made, SBA said that it has only received forgiveness applications for about 1.3 million of the loans, totaling $170.5 billion.
The SBA was focused on forgiving smaller loans, creating a simpler application process for loan forgiveness for loans under $50,000.