The Office of Advocacy’s Quarterly Lending Bulletin for the first quarter of 2013 suggests that while the total amount of small business lending is not yet on the rise, the overall picture is improving. The total amount was down slightly, by 0.3 percent for the quarter, but small commercial and industrial loans continued moderate growth. (See chart 1.)
In addition, the value of loans under $100,000 increased by 1.6 percent, building on the previous quarter’s slight uptick of 0.2 percent. Bankers reported stronger demand for small business loans and eased lending policies for business loans for the quarter.
—Kathryn Tobias, Senior Editor