Treasury to name 700,000 small businesses receiving government loans

WASHINGTON — The Treasury Department says it is releasing on Monday the names of more than 700,000 companies that received funds from the government’s small business lending program, a massive effort intended to support the economy as states shut down in April to contain the COVID-19 outbreak.

Treasury identified just a fraction of the total borrowers, naming only those companies that received more than $150,000. Those firms made up less than 15% of the nearly 5 million small companies that received loans.

The average loan amount for the entire program was $107,000, senior administration officials said. The government handed out $521 billion through the Paycheck Protection Program, a crucial piece of the government’s $2-trillion rescue package. The loans can be forgiven if the businesses mostly use the money to continue paying their workers.

The recipients employed 51 million people before the pandemic began, the officials said on a call with reporters, or 85% of all workers at companies with fewer than 500 employees. Not all of those jobs were saved, but the government won’t know how many were lost until companies apply to have the loans forgiven, a process that is just beginning.

The link to the data on the Treasury website wasn’t working as of 11:18 a.m. Eastern time.