A bill that will expand the amount of funding in a popular low-interest loan program has recently been signed into law by Gov. Mike Parson. The new law will increase the annual cap on the MOBUCK$ program to $1.2 billion.
“It’s a great program which has provided a lot of relief to small businesses and farmers across the state helping them during high times of inflation, high interest rates to provide a low-cost interest loan to help them for the businesses for farming operations,” he said.
Malek petitioned lawmakers to raise the annual budget after available funds were exhausted twice within the past twelve months. It was reopened on January 2nd and shut down hours later due to demand.
“The first time in the history of the state in the treasurer’s office, we hit the cap of $800 million and we practically ran out of money to give more loans,” he said.
Because of the high inflation, Malek said that the amount had to be raised.
“It has been a very tough situation for our farmers and small businesses to get money and credit at low-interest costs,” said Malek. “With MOBUCK$, you can get a loan practically at about 30% reduction from the normal usual interest rate from the prime market.”
The legislation was sponsored by Rep. Terry Thompson, R-Lexington.
