The U.S. government's US$660 billion program to rescue small businesses hit by the coronavirus pandemic thwarts the intention of Congress by making it hard for some borrowers to convert loans to grants and failing to prioritize the right businesses, a government watchdog said on Friday.
"Because the did not provide guidance to lenders about prioritizing borrowers in underserved and rural markets, these borrowers, including rural, minority and women-owned businesses, may not have received the loans as intended," the inspector general said in a 40-page report https://www.oversight.gov/sites/default/files/oig-reports/SBA_OIG_Report_20-14_508.pdf, referring to the Paycheck Protection Program, part of the US$2.3 trillion CARES Act.
Under the U.S. Treasury and SBA's stringent loan forgiveness terms, businesses that use less than 75per cent of their loan on payroll may not get the loan forgiven. Congress did not specify any such threshold. The report recommended that the Treasury and SBA review the potential adverse impact of those terms and update them"if necessary."