(nj.com) For the first time, minority- owned businesses have received the majority of New Jersey’s Small Business Administration loans, with Asian-American-owned firms taking the lead.

The SBA said yesterday 52 percent of New Jersey’s 3,557 loans went to minority-owned firms in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30 — the first time that’s happened since the SBA made its first loan to a New Jersey business in 1960, according to James Kocsi, state district director for the agency.

Asian-American loans jumped 13 percent last year, to 1,110 loans totaling $175 million. Hispanic- American firms received 433 loans for $43 million, up 3 percent, while African-American small businesses saw a 7 percent increase, to 257 loans for $29.4 million. (more…)