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The US Small Business Administration reported an increase in the number and share of SBA-backed 7(a) and 504 loans going to Black-owned businesses.

SBA said 4,387 loans amounting to $1.3 billion were issued to Black-owned businesses so far this year, a jump from the 3,630 loans issued for the whole year of 2022, equivalent to $1.1 billion.

Year-to-date, the loans’ share from the total climbed to 7.5 percent versus the 6.4 percent share for the full year 2022.

The 7(a) loan is SBA’s primary business loan program, extending support financing to small businesses for a range of uses for up to $5 million, while the 504 loan program provides long-term, fixed-rate financing up to $5.5 million for major fixed asset purchases by small businesses.

SBA also said that small businesses led by women and people of color surged with 13.1 million new business applications filed since President Joe Biden took office, “a rate 65 percent faster than the pre-pandemic average.”

SBA Administrator Isabella Casillas Guzman and Congressional Black Caucus Chair Steven Horsford both noted the importance of Black businesses in supporting the economy through the creation of jobs and equity advancement in communities, as well as the need to put more efforts in improving lending for Black-owned businesses.

“Despite these gains, we still have a long way to go. We continue to push forward with long overdue and transformational reforms to our lending and investment programs that will raise the bar of equity and opportunity even further for all of America’s small businesses,” Guzman said in a statement.

SBA’s programs on advancing lending to Black entrepreneurs include the Community Advantage Program, the $100 million Community Navigator Pilot Program, growing Women’s Business Centers at Historically Black Colleges and Universities, forging beneficial partnerships with like-minded organizations and implementing new reforms to address persistent capital access gaps.