New Hampshire businesses are taking out loans in the second round of the federal Paycheck Protection Program at a steady but slowly declining clip, according to the latest report from the U.S. Small Business Administration.

During the Feb. 7-15 period, the SBA approved 1,273 New Hampshire loans totaling $108 million, bringing the total so far in this round to 7,341 businesses for $704 million. During the deliberately slow rollout (Jan. 11-24), Granite State businesses took out $233 million in loans.

The size of the average loan has gone down as well. The average New Hampshire loan size started at $108,000, but is now at $96,000. That is still above the national average of $75,000, which also is declining.

There is still plenty of money left in the $284 billion program. As of Feb. 15, nearly 1.7 million U.S. businesses have been approved for $125 billion in loans. The program is due to expire at the end of March.

The vast majority of second-round borrowers are going for their second loan, according to another SBA report on the data as of Feb. 11. At that time, less than $10 billion of $115 billion went to first-time borrowers. It’s unclear how much of this were to newly eligible businesses and organizations, like trade associations and chambers of commerce. — BOB SANDERS