Fed’s Harker Says PPP Was Blunt Instrument Due to Limited Access

“There is no doubt that PPP was an immense help to millions of businesses and that the employment crisis would be far worse without it. PPP has proven to be something of a blunt instrument, however,” Philadelphia Fed President Patrick Harker says of the Paycheck Protection Program.

• “I think a big part of the problem is that the distribution of PPP loans was predicated on having existing banking relationships,” Harker says Tuesday in remarks prepared for a virtual event
• “The trouble is that many small businesses, especially those microenterprises we’ve been talking about, don’t have those established banking relationships -- ...