Fed Survey Exposes Perilous State of Small-Business Finances
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Small businesses across America were running on slender finances well before the coronavirus struck, according to a survey by the Federal Reserve’s regional banks.
“Even in late 2019, a period characterized by positive economic growth and low unemployment, small businesses exhibited varying degrees of financial health,” the New York Fed said in a report Tuesday, drawing on evidence from the central bank’s 2019 Small Business Credit Survey. “Only one in five healthy firms -- and even fewer less-healthy firms -- had sufficient cash reserves to continue normal operations if they experienced a two-month revenue loss.”