SBA Releases Detailed Alaska PPP Info

By Alaska Business Staff

On the 4th of July President Donald Trump signed the Paycheck Protection Program Extension Act, which extends the June 30 application deadline for the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) to August 8.

The benefit of a PPP loan is that the loan will be forgiven if a business meets employee retention criteria and the funds are used for eligible expenses. According to SBA Pacific Northwest Regional Administrator Jeremy Field, “The PPP gives employees peace of mind and businesses the financial relief they need to weather the pandemic and continue moving forward.”

At the same time, the US Small Business Administration (SBA) released detailed data about loans made under the PPP. “In releasing PPP loan data to the public, SBA is maintaining a balance between providing transparency to American taxpayers and protecting small businesses’ confidential business information, such as payroll, and personally identifiable information, the SBA said in a statement released with the data. “Small businesses are the driving force of American economic stability and are essential to America’s economic rebound from the pandemic. SBA is committed to ensuring that any release of PPP loan data does not harm small businesses or their employees.”

As of July 6, 5,460 lenders across the nation have approved almost 5 million loans totaling more than $521 billion, with the average loan coming in at just more than $100,000, according to the SBA.

In Alaska, almost 10,000 individual loans of less than $150,000 were issued, the majority of which were approved through Alaska USA FCU, Bank of America, Denali State Bank, First Bank, First National Bank Alaska, KeyBank, Matanuska Valley FCU, Mt. Mckinley Bank, Northern Skies FCU, Northrim Bank, NuVision FCU, and Wells Fargo, according to the data. Companies that received $150,000 or less were not identified by name.

A little more than a third of these loans were approved for businesses headquartered in Anchorage, while the remaining two-thirds were approved for companies outside the city.

About 1,650 Alaska companies were approved for loans ranging from $150,000 to $10 million, with 185 of those in the $1 million to $10 million range. While exact loan amounts weren’t included, in total more than a $1 billion has been approved for Alaska companies to reduce employee layoffs and help keep companies afloat as they manage the impact of COVID-19.

“The PPP is providing much-needed relief to millions of American small businesses, supporting more than 51 million jobs and over 80 percent of all small business employees, who are the drivers of economic growth in our country,” said Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin in a release accompanying the data.  “We are particularly pleased that 27 percent of the program’s reach is in low and moderate income communities, which is in proportion to percentage of population in these areas.