New Mexico launches recovery loan fund
SANTA FE (KSMX)- The Small Business Recovery Loan Fund for New Mexico small businesses opened on August 5 to help businesses amidst the ongoing pandemic.
The Small Business Recovery Act of 2020 allocates $400 million in funds from the New Mexico State Severance Tax Fund to provide loans to New Mexico businesses and nonprofits that have experienced financial hardship due to the public health order resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.
The bipartisan legislation was sponsored by Sens. John Sapien, Jacob Candelaria and Sander Rue and Reps. Marian Matthews and Daymon Ely in June’s special legislative session.
Eligible businesses and nonprofits may borrow two times their average monthly expenses up to a maximum of $75,000. The measure sets the interest rate at one-half of the prime rate on the day the loan is made. The initial loan period is three years, with interest-only payments for the first three years.
The loan program is limited to businesses and nonprofits with 2019 annual gross revenue of less than $5 million and whose 2020 April and May income dropped 30 percent or more compared to the same month in 2019. The New Mexico Finance Authority is administering the Small Business Recovery Loan Fund.
The online application is available at http://www.nmfinance.com.