Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Monday said he hopes that the administration will release documents and instructions later in the day covering how small businesses can apply for loans created by the coronavirus relief package President Trump signed on Friday.
In a phone interview with Fox Business Network, Mnuchin said that the process for obtaining the loans will be “very simple,” and that small-business owners will be able to go to existing Small Business Administration lenders as well as banks, credit unions and financial technology lenders to apply.
“We expect this will be very, very easy,” Mnuchin said.
The Treasury secretary also reiterated he expects that the loans to be available starting on Friday.
The new coronavirus relief law creates a $350 billion program that allows small business owners to apply for loans that would be forgiven if they hire or retain their workers. The loans are designed to cover eight weeks of a business’s payroll, and a business can receive a loan of up to $10 million under the program.
Mnuchin told Fox Business that the loans should be able to cover about 50 percent of the private workforce.
“This is a very effective way that the president has designed for us to keep people at work so that when the economy opens up, they’re ready, and small businesses have their employees and are open for business,” he said.
Mnuchin also said the administration will ask Congress for additional funds if the program proves to be popular and funds for it run out.
Source: NAOMI JAGODA