Access to capital is critical to bringing Indian Country’s natural resources online.
One of the problems that tribes face in developing those resources is that because their lands are held in trust, they cannot be put up as collateral for loans. This is why the guaranteed loan program offered through the BIA’s Division of Capital Investment is so pivotal. The Indian Loan Guarantee and Insurance Program (ILGP) reduces the risk to lenders who offer loans to American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) tribes and individuals. The program can provide up to a 90% guarantee or insurance for loans.
However, the Biden Administration forced a change of program leadership to someone wholly unsuited for the job. DCI has not used anything close to the financial ceiling Congress and OMB provide. The program DCI delivers used to guarantee and insure a total of $130 to $180 million in private loans to Indian-owned businesses every year. In the past two years, DCI’s productivity has been less than half that. The program’s dismal performance can be traced to the absence of qualified personnel.
Can the Trump Administration rebuild this essential program before it is too late? At stake is the only federal lending program specifically for Indian businesses, one that has provided $1.5 billion in needed financing for Indian enterprises over the past 50 years.
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