Trump policy uncertainty causes small company borrowing to stall

By Stuart Hodge

Borrowing by small American companies stalled in March, with the policy uncertainty created by the Trump administration cited as the main reason for business owners failing to invest.

According to Reuters, The Small Business Lending Index for March registered 134, down by a percentage point from the same time last year.

It’s after economic growth in the United States slumped to its slowest rate in three years, registering only 0.7% for the first quarter.

Small businesses refused to be swayed that Donald Trump's planned corporation tax cuts will have any positive impact for them according to Bill Phelan, PayNet's chief executive and founder.

"They didn't get sucked into all the euphoria of public markets; they are just, ‘Wake me up when we are there.’

"There's not going to be any kind of enthusiasm."

Some additional research found that small companies are not avoiding new debts because of troubles paying off old ones. Data from PayNet showed the share of due loans more than 30 days past was 1.68% in March, unchanged from the previous month.
 

Share

Featured Articles

Amelia DeLuca, CSO at Delta Air Lines on Female Leadership

Driving decarbonisation at Delta Air Lines, Chief Sustainability Officer Amelia DeLuca discusses the rise of the CSO and value of more women in leadership

Liz Elting – Driving Equality & Building Billion-$ Business

Founder and CEO Liz Elting Turned Her Passion into Purpose and Created a Billion-Dollar Business While Fighting for Workplace Equality – and Winning

JPMorgan Chase: Committed to supporting the next generation

JPMorgan has unveiled a host of new and expanded philanthropic activities totalling US$3.5 million to support the development of apprenticeship programmes

How efficient digital ecosystems became business critical

Technology & AI

Mastercard: Supporting clients at a time of rapid evolution

Digital Strategy

Why Ceridian has boldly rebranded to Dayforce

Human Capital