Cost-benefit analysis of the Canada Small Business Financing Program / : Analyse coûts-avantages du Programme de financement des petites entreprises du Canada

A registration fee of 1.25% of the total amount loaned under the program must also be paid by the borrower to the lender but can be financed as part of the loan. [...] The registration fee and a portion of the interest are submitted to Industry Canada by the lender to help offset the government’s costs of running the program. [...] The costs of resources devoted by Industry Canada to administer the program and costs born by financial institutions and borrowers that would otherwise not be incurred in the absence of the program have also been considered: $ Salaries of Industry Canada staff involved in the administration and management of the CSBFP; $ Direct operating expenditures for the CSBFP including IM/IT leases, travel co [...] Based on the order of magnitude of direct operating expenditures for loans identified through lender interviews in 2009, it is unlikely that the exclusion of direct operating expenditures paid by lenders to administer the program will have a significant impact on the assessment of the net program benefits. [...] The spread between the average interest rate charged on loans and the cost of funds (revenue rate) fluctuated over the evaluation period trending generally upwards between 2003/2004 and 2007/2008, reversing in 2009/2010 at the height of the recession, and rebounding with the economy in 2010/2011.