The SBA said it supported more than $29 billion in lending tosmall businesses this fiscal year, making 2013 the third highest inlending activity in the agency's history.

During the fiscal year which ended Sept. 30, the SBA said, loan approvals supported $29.6 billion (54,106 loans)to small businesses in its two main loan programs, 7(a) and 504,compared to $30.3 billion (53,848 loans) in FY 2012 and $30.5billion (61,689 loans) in FY 2011.

The agency said streamlining its Small Loan Advantage program, which is designed to expandaccess to loans under $350,000, increased the number oflower-dollar SBA 7(a) loans going to small businesses and entrepreneurs inunderserved communities.

In FY 2013, the SBA said, it backed almost 5,000 loans fornearly $745 million through the SLA program.

The agency's CAPlines program, which provides working capitallines of credit designed to help small businesses with theirshort-term working capital needs, saw a successful year in partbecause of measures to streamline loan processing, according to theSBA.

The program approved 682 loans for more than $500 million, theagency said. In the two full fiscal years since the program wasre-designed, the SBA said it has cumulatively approved 1,200 loansafter only doing 1,300 over 15 years.

In FY 2013, the SBA said, it also supported more than 7,700 504loans, which provide small businesses with long-term, fixed-ratefinancing to acquire real estate and major fixed assets, for atotal of more than $11.7 billion.

Although this is a slight dip with FY 2012, the SBA said thedecrease demonstrates the importance of SBA's 504 Refinancing Program, which has temporarily allowedsmall business owners to use the 504 program to refinancecommercial real estate and other fixed assets.

That program was authorized by the Small Business Jobs Act andexpired in 2012, but a one-year extension of the program wasincluded in President Obama's FY 2014 budget, the SBA said.

Since Obama took office, the SBA said it has supported more than$126 billion in lending to more than 260,000 small businesses andentrepreneurs.

“Small businesses are the engine of our economy, and reachingour third highest year of SBA lending in FY 2013 demonstrates thestrength and resiliency of America's 28 million small businesses asthey continue to recover from the Great Recession and drive oureconomy forward,” said Acting SBA Administrator Jeanne Hulit.

The SBA was founded in 1953.