Mid-Missouri Business Week: Progress update on Missouri First initiative

The Missouri First initiative is a low-interest loan program for small businesses, agriculture and more. The loans were rebranded in March to create the current Missouri First program. Since then, the state treasurer says business has been booming and the economy is doing well.

ABC 17’s Deborah Kendrick sat down with the state treasurer to talk about this progress.

“We’ve seen nearly a 3 percent increase in applications over the last year,” State Treasurer Eric Schmitt said. “We’ve also seen since that relaunch nearly $40 million worth of new investment in Missouri. In mid-Missouri, that means nearly $30 million of low-interest loans are out on the street.”

Schmitt also said Missouri’s doing a little bit better than the national averages on unemployment and labor-force participation.