Borrowing by small US businesses jumped in August, a bright spot in an economy whose weaknesses are so pronounced that the Federal Reserve last month launched a new program aimed at encouraging just such borrowing. The Thomson Reuters/PayNet Small Business Lending Index, which measures the overall volume of financing to US small businesses, gained 19 percent in August from a year earlier, and 8.6 percent from July, PayNet said on Monday.
It is at its highest since April 2008, after gaining by double digits every month for 13 months. Borrowing by small businesses is seen as a harbinger for the broader economy because they account for the lion's share of new hiring. Two years into a recovery from the worst recession in decades, the United States is still dogged by 9.1 percent unemployment, and in August, US employers overall added no jobs. Accounts in moderate delinquency, or those behind by 30 days or more, fell in August to 1.64 percent from 1.76 percent in July, PayNet said.