Pittsburgh, Pa. − March 18, 2020 − Senator Lindsey M. Williams announced today that the Small Business First (SBF) loan program administered through the Pennsylvania Industrial Development Authority (PIDA) will soon be accepting applications to fund working capital loans to small businesses impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The SBF Program will have $61 million in funds available. $40 million of this funding comes from interest income and fees paid to the Commonwealth Financing Authority (CFA), which must be spent on programming. The CFA has transferred these funds to PIDA under that mandate. The remaining $21 million is already held by PIDA and comes from bond proceeds and loan repayments from traditional PIDA projects. The funds will be used to fund working capital loans of up to $100,000 directly to small businesses (defined as 100 employees or less). Currently the interest rates for these loans is 3%; however, PIDA has the authority to lower these rates and has indicated that they will likely do so.
“I want to thank the Commonwealth Financing Authority and PIDA for moving quickly on making these loans available to our local small business owners,” said Senator Williams. “By using the existing structure of the PIDA, we’ll be able to quickly accept and evaluate applications and get funding to where it is needed the most—working families across the Commonwealth.”
Additional information about the Pennsylvania Industrial Development Authority can be found at https://dced.pa.gov/programs/pennsylvania-industrial-development-authority-pida/
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