SBA backing loans at prerecession pace

I’m starting to get the feeling from regional financial indicators that the economy is picking up — quickly.

For example, did you know that the federal Small Business Administration underwrote close to $16 million in loans in Boulder and Broomfield counties from Oct. 1, 2011, to May 23, 2012?

Now you do.

Federal loan dollars actually have been growing in the state economy since January 2011, according to Matthew Palmer, a spokesman for the SBA office in Denver. Since then, loan officers have been approving SBA-backed loans at a pre-economic recession pace, Palmer said.

Since the beginning of March of this year, the SBA…