When Will The US Economy Recover From The Coronavirus? What The Fed Chair Had To Say About Loans To Companies

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell on Friday said that the central bank is close to launching the Main Street Lending Program. The initiative would help small and medium-sized businesses procure loans amid the ongoing coronavirus outbreak.

“We’re days away from making our first loans in Main Street,” Powell told former Fed official and Princeton economics professor Alan Blinder during an online conversation. “We have three facilities that are part of it. They’re meant to reach out to different parts of that broad space. In the meantime, many of those companies are finding that they can borrow from banks. Others are waiting for us to get our facilities up and running.”

Powell said the program "is far and away the biggest challenge of any of the 11 facilities that we’ve set up.” The Main Street Lending Program is divided into three facilities: the Main Street New Loan Facility (MSNLF), the Main Street Priority Loan Facility (MSPLF), and the Main Street Expanded Loan Facility (MSELF).

The loans to businesses will be from $500,000 to $100 million, but could be expanded on either end, Powell said.

The Federal Reserve is rushing to help small businesses across the country, after most states shut down non-essential businesses due to the coronavirus. In April alone, 20.5 million jobs were lost and the unemployment ticked up to 14.7%.

There remains uncertainty about how and when the economy will recover. Although the majority of states have reopened most businesses, many Americans appear reluctant to return to normal activities.

"Once things restart, it would be naive to think the economy will bounce right back to 'normal,'" Citibank analysts Ashwin Shirvaikar and Andrew Schmidt told MarketWatch in late April.

The Bureau of Economic Analysis said Friday that the personal savings rate hit 33% in April, as consumers hoard money amid ongoing economic uncertainty.

“I would worry almost more that a second outbreak would undermine confidence," Powell said. “A full recovery of the economy will really depend on people being confident that it is safe to go out and safe to engage in a broad range of economy activity.”

As of Saturday at 3:15 p.m. ET, the U.S. has 1,759,725 cases of the coronavirus and there have been 103,389 deaths. Some health experts have warned of a second wave of the virus in the fall if there is no vaccine.