Small-business loans drop

By Emily Maltby
CNNMoney.com
(CNNMoney.com) - The credit freeze afflicting America's small businesses is reflected in Small Business Administration numbers for the last three months of 2008. The agency's flagship loan-guarantee program backed less than half the number of loans it approved a year earlier - a sign that fewer entrepreneurs are getting financing to start or expand their ventures.

In the first quarter of its 2009 fiscal year, which ended December 31, the SBA's 7(a) program backed 8,996 loans. That's a 57 percent drop from the 20,859 loans the SBA backed in the first quarter of 2008, and a 62 percent drop from 2007's first-quarter total.

The total dollar value of loans processed by the SBA also plummeted to $1.94 billion, down 40 percent from last year's $3.24 billion.