SBA lending increases to Mississippi small businesses

The U.S. Small Business Administration's Mississippi District Office reports $166.6 million in loans were approved in the state during fiscal year 2015, which ended Sept. 30.

"This surpasses the $153.3 million approved in fiscal year 2014 by more than $13.3 million (9 percent) and is extremely significant for small businesses in our state," said Janita Stewart, SBA Mississippi District director.

Of the loans approved, 196 totaling $77.9 million were provided to new businesses and 250 for more than $88.7 million were to existing businesses. A total of 3,696 jobs were created or retained as a result of these loans.

Nationally, SBA backed 63,460 7(a) loans for $23.6 billion, an increase of 22 percent in the number of loans and 23 percent in the dollar amount compared with fiscal year 2014.

Details on SBA loans: SBA Mississippi District Office at (601) 965-4378, the Gulfport Branch Office at 863-4449 or at sba.gov/ms.

This story was originally published November 24, 2015 at 4:11 PM with the headline "SBA lending increases to Mississippi small businesses ."