New Mexico will offer small businesses up to $400 million in low-interest loans to help them withstand economic turmoil linked to the coronavirus pandemic under a bill signed on Tuesday by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D), the Associated Press reported. The legislation also makes a smaller pool of loans available to local governments. Eligible small businesses can borrow up to $75,000 that comes from the state’s severance tax permanent fund, a $5 billion trust sustained by taxes on oil extraction and other mineral development. To qualify for the zero-collateral loans, businesses must have annual revenues of less than $5 million and show a 30 percent decline in income during April and May, compared with the same period a year ago.
