Small businesses receive $35 billion in new round of PPP loans

The Small Business Administration said last night that so far this year, it has approved 400,000 Paycheck Protection Program loans worth $35 billion — out of the $284 billion of total available funding.

Driving the news: These are the first figures on the status of the forgivable loan program since it relaunched on Jan. 11.

Why it matters: The program is intended to keep small businesses (and jobs) afloat, but the latest tranche is off to a slower start.

• Protocols put in place to tamp down on fraud are preventing legitimate second-time borrowers from applying.

How it breaks down: Roughly 66% of loans were for $60,000 or less, with the average loan size at $87,000.

• The food and accommodations sector is getting the biggest share (19%) of loan dollars.