DENVER – Nearly 30,000 Paycheck Protection Program loans totaling more than $5 billion have been approved for small businesses in Colorado affected by the coronavirus pandemic.
The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) said that as of Monday, 28,469 Paycheck Protection Program loans had been approved for qualifying businesses in the state of Colorado for a total of $5,830,781,842.
“The unparalleled success of the PPP for the state’s small business community is attributable to our strong relationships with both the state and other strategic partners,” said SBA Colorado district office director Frances Padilla. “SBA Colorado could not have accomplished this incredible feat alone.”
Nationally, 1,035,086 loans have been approved for small businesses, nonprofits and other organizations under the Paycheck Protection Program totaling more than $247 billion, the SBA said.
The PPP, part of the federal CARES Act signed into law on March 27, provides nearly $350 billion to help cover payroll for small businesses and income for self-employed workers who have lost their jobs amid the coronavirus crisis.
The program opened to small businesses with 500 or fewer employees on April 3. Since then, hundreds of thousands of small businesses nationwide have applied for the forgivable loans to cover a portion of their payroll costs. The overwhelming demand has led to a backlog of applications.
Besty Markey, the executive director of the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade, has previously said that in Colorado alone, about 600,000 businesses are eligible to apply.
