More Federal Efforts Needed To Improve Indians' Standard of Living Through Business Development

Gao ID: CED-78-50 February 15, 1978

The Indian Financing Act of 1974 was enacted to stimulate economic development on Indian reservations by increasing the availability of funds for starting and expanding business enterprises.

Eight Federal agencies administering 25 grant, loan, and technical assistance programs have not been very successful because the Indian reservations are not generally well suited for business development. Some of the reservations have little potential for success without long-term Federal assistance. From fiscal years 1975 through 1977, the Economic Development Administration (EDA) and the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) have provided $294 million through loans and grants to help establish businesses on Indian reservations. In 45 industrial parks financed by EDA, the number of businesses decreased since 1973. Deficiences in BIA administration has caused the loan and grant programs to suffer from delinquencies, inadequate accounting systems, poor analysis of loan and grant applications, missing documents in loan and grant files, inadequate loan servicing, short repayment terms, and limited provision of technical assistance. About 300,000 Indians are not eligible for loans because of certain prohibitions in the Act.

Recommendations

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