In Sign of Economic Improvement, Small Business Loans Surge

New York, the top region for Small Business Administration loans, saw 87 percent increase in October compared to the same month last year

Carla Tellez, founder of Our Children First, a therapeutic learning center for children, is with a child at the center in the Bronx borough of New York on Nov. 22, 2017. Benjamin Chasteen/The Epoch Times

Optimism within the nation’s small-business world continues to soar, reaching its highest levels in years. Thanks to better access to loans, entrepreneurs are increasingly confident about expanding their businesses.

The lending activity of the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) has risen in the last 12 months. The New York district has been the top performer among 68 SBA districts, seeing a 36 percent increase in the number of loans and a 15 percent surge in dollar terms in the 2017 fiscal year (from Oct. 1, 2016, to Sept. 30, 2017). And for the first time, the New York SBA broke $1 billion in small-business lending.