The State Treasurer’s Office wants to expand a program that makes low-interest loans available to small businesses, individuals and local governments.
State Treasurer Clint Zweifel has unveiled his "Invest in Missouri" plan, which he says would reinvest an estimated one billion dollars in communities and return $10 million to Missouri taxpayers.
Through the Missouri Linked Deposit program, the Treasurer’s Office deposits money into community banks at below-market-rate interest, allowing the bank to pass along that savings to borrowers — small businesses and farms — at 2 percent or 3 percent interest.
Zweifel says the program has a cap of $720 million — and only about 40 percent of that’s being utilized.
His changes to the plan would speed up the approval process, extend the loans to municipalities for public works projects and remove the caps for small businesses.
The change in statute would require legislative approval. Zweifel says he’s working with leaders in the General Assembly to make that happen.
Click here to view the State Treasurer’s complete INVEST IN MISSOURI Initiatives .
Click the audio icon to hear Zweifel talk about the program.
Clint Zweifel unveils “Invest in Missouri” [Download/listen MP3]
