According to a Press Herald report, New Mexico has approved public financing for cannabis businesses.
The state’s finance authority is planning for a $5 million line of credit for entrepreneurs, with an average loan size of about $100,000. The application process is expected to open in February.
New Mexico will provide business loans of up to $250,00 toward small-scale cannabis businesses. The move is in an effort to provide economic opportunity to communities that were hit hard by past criminal enforcement of marijuana laws.
Loans would be available to qualified cannabis “microbusinesses” that are licensed to cultivate and sell marijuana from up to 200 plants at a single location.
That business niche was authorized in sweeping legislation to regulate and tax recreational marijuana sales, signed by Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham. Recreational cannabis sales will start by April 1, 2022.
Terms of the small business loans will extend for up to five years with interest rates from 2% to 3%.
The Regulation and Licensing Department had announced last week that the loan program is moving forward, after a legislative panel provided approval this week.
New Mexico Finance Authority CEO Marquita Russel has noted that traditional business loans are still scarce for small-scale cannabis entrepreneurs.
