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Nearly Half A Billion Dollars Funneled To Montana Through PPP 2.0

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Nearly 9,000 loans have been approved for small businesses, nonprofits and faith based organizations in Montana so far this year through the second round of the Paycheck Protection Program.

The U.S. Small Business Administration’s most recent report shows nearly $126 billion worth of PPP loans had been approved nationwide through Monday. Nearly $465 million from the forgivable loan program 2.0 has gone to Montana.

Neighboring states Wyoming and Idaho have pulled in fewer loans and overall PPP dollars compared to Montana, while North and South Dakota have had more. The report shows nearly 6,000 loans approved in Wyoming totalling more than $410 million; Idaho’s nearly 6,500 loans brought in around $437 million. North Dakota netted over 13,000 PPP loans worth more than $640 million, and South Dakota has had more than 16,000 loans approved that add up to nearly $544 million.

PPP distributed over $500 billion worth of government backed loans to more than 5 million small businesses in the U.S. between April and August last year.

The SBA says the current round of PPP is successfully reaching smaller borrowers with 94 percent of all loans less than $250,000.

Loans are available to both first time applicants and returning borrowers, but second time applicants must prove a certain amount of economic hardship to be approved. They also need to have 300 or fewer workers as compared to the original PPP eligibility requirement of 500 or less.

Loans with the second round of PPP are still forgivable if at least 60 percent of the loan goes toward payroll, and there’s more flexibility with how the small business spends the other 40 percent. Any part of the PPP loan that is not forgiven must be paid back, either immediately or in the form of a two year, low interest loan.

The SBA says around one third of the PPP loans from last year have completed the forgiveness process.

U.S. Congress included more than $280 billion in new funding for the Paycheck Protection Program in the stimulus package it passed in December.