NCET

The number of companies borrowing through Small Business Administration programs in Carson City and Washoe County has declined by nearly 60 percent since 2007, and the amount they’ve borrowed has fallen by about 35 percent.

So is the sharp decline caused by tight-fisted lenders or overly worried borrowers? Both factors are cited by bankers and other observers.

But there’s no doubt that the pace of lending has fallen sharply.

Since October — about the time that the Lehman Brothers collapse deepened the financial crisis — banks have made 40 loans through SBA-guaranteed programs in Washoe County and Carson City.

Assuming that pace continues for the next six months, the dollar amount of lending would be about the same as a year earlier. But the number of business projects financed by SBA loans would be down by about 42 percent from the 138 projects financed during the federal fiscal year that began Oct. 1, 2007. Read more:

Technorati Tags: John Seelmeyer, Northern Nevada Business Weekly, Small Business Administration, Carson City, Washoe County, Tom Burke, Bobbi Bennett, Nevada State Development Corp., David Leonard, NCET, Nevada’s Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology

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This entry was posted on Saturday, April 18th, 2009 at 10:02 am and is filed under Reno-Tahoe. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.