Business

Nearly 1,000 V.I. Businesses Obtain Paycheck Protection Program Loans Totaling $114 Million

Businesses including the territory’s premiere luxury hotel and its affiliated private charter company have obtained more than $114 million and counting in forgivable loans intended specifically to keep small businesses alive during the Coronavirus pandemic. The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) reported that 963 companies doing business in the Virgin Islands were approved for Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans to date. And according to Gov. Albert Bryan, there is plenty more of the federal money available for the asking. “Please, if you have not done so, please consider getting a PPP loan to pay employees, rent, utilities,” Mr. Bryan said during a COVID-19 update a few days ago. The money is “100 percent forgivable … as long as you use the money to pay your employees, rent or mortgage,” the governor said. Generally speaking, that’s the way the program is supposed to work: keep employees on the payroll, pay legitimate business expenses such as rent, mortgage and utilities...