Small businesses still have the pandemic and now high inflation to grapple with – and they’re finding it’s tough to get a loan to help with the daily grind.

A recently released survey from the Federal Reserve shows how the pandemic has altered the financial landscape for small businesses. About 85 percent experienced financial difficulties in 2021, up nearly 20 percentage points from 2019. Back then, more than half of owners who sought a loan were looking to expand; last year, the majority of applicants needed funds just to cover everyday operating expenses.

Meanwhile, inflation is the highest in decades, with raw materials and finished goods soaring in price and workers demanding higher wages. The Federal Reserve is raising interest rates in response, which means the cost of borrowing money is going up.

Even in normal times, it can be tough for small businesses to get loans from traditional banks because they lack the assets and credit histories of bigger companies. During the pandemic, banks have been stingier, outside of COVID-related programs. Two years in, loan applicants are more likely to get turned down or to receive less money than they asked for compared to before COVID-19.

Todd McCracken, president of the National Small Business Association, an advocacy group, said the current loan environment could make it tougher on small businesses trying to recover from the pandemic. Their balance sheets, which banks look at to assess loan applications, were weakened during the pandemic, even if their prospects are bright.

“Past performance is not really a good indicator of future potential,” he said.

In February, big banks approved 14.7 percent of loan requests, down from 28.3 percent in February 2020. And small banks approved 20.5 percent of loan requests, down from 50.3 percent in the same month in 2020. That’s according to the online lender Biz2Credit, based on data from more than 1,000 small business owners who applied for funding on the company’s platform.

The banks’ stinginess has led business owners to consider other options such as community banks, online lenders and crowdfunding sites. Owners were more likely to apply for an online loan last year than in 2020, while applicants were less likely to seek financing from a small bank, the Fed survey shows.

“The good news is, small businesses do have plenty of options out there, although they may not be the cheapest options,” said Matt Schulz, chief credit analyst at the online lending marketplace LendingTree.