Geithner: Financing tough for small firms

WASHINGTON, March 22 (UPI) -- U.S. Treasury Department Secretary Timothy Geithner said Tuesday that, despite improvements, financial challenges remain for smaller businesses.

With the Treasury hosting a conference on "Access to Capital," Geithner said in his opening remarks, "It's still a tough financing environment out there for small companies."

Finding funds remains a challenge despite new federal programs, he said.

Geithner said the federal government has responded with tax cuts for small businesses, grants for clean energy initiatives, and special credit programs.

The latest credit program, the State Small Business Credit Initiative, launched in California, Michigan and North Carolina, last week has already announced its first loan, which went to J&S Reel Logging in Raleigh, N.C., Geithner said.

Funding for the program was opened Tuesday in Vermont, Connecticut and Missouri.

Geithner touted the effort as a low cost-high impact program that uses federal dollars to leverage additional funds.

"It can leverage every $1 of public investment into 10 dollars of new lending. Our $1.5 billion funding commitment nationwide is expected to spur $15 billion or more in additional small business lending," he said.