The U.S. government’s small-business relief program delivered an outsize number of loans to predominantly White parts of the country in its first two weeks of operation, leaving firms in mostly Hispanic and Black areas to wait until a second tranche of funds was made available, according to a Bloomberg News analysis of Small Business Administration data.
In the first round of the Paycheck Protection Program in April, 27% of businesses in congressional districts with a majority of non-Hispanic White residents received loans compared with 17% in districts where minorities make up more than half the population. The difference was starkest in the 36 majority-Hispanic districts, where only 15% of firms were able to tap into the $349 billion of available funds before they ran out on April 16.
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