(Bloomberg) -- Small-business owners may have to rethink their plans as the longest-ever U.S. government shutdown blocks them from securing funding, according to the head of one of the biggest U.S. Small Business Administration lenders.
Huntington Bancshares Inc. Chief Executive Officer Steve Steinour said the SBA closure, part of the federal shutdown, is beginning to hinder businesses that rely on its federally backed financing.
“We're actually going to have small business, very soon, impacted negatively because we can't get an SBA loan,” Steinour said in an interview Thursday. “These are mom-and-pop businesses -- they've got their livelihoods at stake.”
Huntington, based in Columbus, Ohio, is offering its customers solutions, such as short-term bridge loans, but the remedies can't replace the full financing package that comes with SBA loan approval, Steinour said.
The SBA issued about $700 million in bonds a month over the past year, but that's completely stopped since the shutdown began. Without government funding, the SBA is closed, preventing small-business owners from getting funding from the administration.
Read more about how the SBA debt market is being impacted by the shutdown
--With assistance from Alex Tanzi.
To contact the reporter on this story: Hannah Levitt in New York at hlevitt@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Michael J. Moore at mmoore55@bloomberg.net, Daniel Taub, Steve Dickson
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