By Jorge Vazquez
25 Oct 2023, 1:31 PM EDT
According to the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), the amount of federally backed loans to Latino-owned small businesses has nearly doubled in two years, reaching a record $3 billion.
The information was released by Axios and highlights that Latino-owned businesses are among the fastest growing small businesses in the United States, despite the lack of access to capital, credit and loans that has prevented some of These companies grow to their full potential.
SBA Administrator Isabel Guzmán commented that the agency’s latest data shows that it has granted 7,746 loans to Latino-owned businesses in the last fiscal year.
The figure represents almost double the number of loans granted to Latino-owned businesses in 2020, when 3,877 were granted.
SBA loan programs offer Latino small businesses affordable federally backed loans at a time when interest rates are rising.
Put simply, total loans are about $3 billion, up nearly $1.4 billion since President Biden took office, while the share of Latinos in the SBA loan portfolio rose from less than 8%. to more than 12%.
“Our country is experiencing a small business boom driven significantly by the entrepreneurial spirit, drive and resilience of the Latino community,” Guzmán commented.
And he explained that the current government administration is working to reverse the historic lack of investment in Latinos, highlighting that the most recent data shows that the SBA is making progress.
U.S. Rep. Nanette Barragán, chairwoman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, has said they “applaud” the promising trend, but much more needs to be done for Latino-owned businesses to raise capital.
According to a report released earlier this year, Latino-owned businesses in the U.S. are more likely than non-Hispanic white ones to say they have recovered from the pandemic and are performing better than before.
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