The Georgia district office of the U.S. Small Business Administration announced On Sep 19, 2011 that it has approved more than $1 billion in guaranty lending for the 2011 fiscal year which ends this month, a record annual total - the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports.
The amount of loans jumped to $1.1 billion from $647 million last year, and exceeded the previous high in Georgia of $671 million in 2008.
SBA district director Terri Denison called the increase "an encouraging sign, compared to where we were in the fall of 2008 when SBA lending and lending activity in general had come to a complete standstill."
Source: http://www.ajc.com/business/sba-guaranty-lending-in-1184234.html