’06 N.H. SBA loans add up to $127m

The Small Business Adminsitration backed 1,028 loans valued at a total of more than $127 million to New Hampshire businesses in the 2006 fiscal year that ended Sept. 30.

The number of SBA-backed loans was down 17 percent from the total of 1,232 loans backed for Granite State businesses in 2005. The total dollar amount of the 2005 loans was more than $159 million.

Specifically in 2006, under the agency’s 7(a) loan guaranty program, 901 loans valued at $80,162,000 were handed out. Under the 504 loan program, a total of 127 loans were made, valued at $46,989,000.

At the national level, the SBA set a record for both number of loans and dollars lent, the agency announcedTuesday.

The SBA backed a net 100,197 loans totaling $19.1 billion under the 7(a) and 504 loan programs — its two primary small business loan programs.

Both the number of loans and the dollar amount is a single-year record for the agency. The previous records were set last year, when SBA provided a net 94,554 loans worth $18.1 billion under the same two programs. – JEFF FEINGOLD