A shrug from GSA chief on loans

Gerald P. Carmen, head of the General Services Administration, indicates he is not too concerned over recent disclosures that he has been granted two deferrals in the past year on $405,000 in outstanding low-interest Small Business Administration loans, Monitor correspondent Godfrey Sperling Jr. reports.

He told reporters over breakfast Thursday that he didn't think the disclosure would damage his ''image,'' since the 6.5 percent-interest loan and deferrals had all been legal.

Mr. Carmen holds that the focus should be on his job. There, he said, he feels that in cutting back on personnel by some 6,000 and bringing the overall GSA employee total to around 30,000, he has made the operation leaner and more efficient.

The original $425,000 loan to Mr. Carmen from the SBA came in 1975, when he was forced to relocate his auto tire service business in Manchester, N.H., because of an urban renewal project.

The loan has been spotlighted because of President Reagan's emphasis on cracking down on those who owe the government loans and back taxes.

Mr. Carmen no longer owns the business on which he received the loan. But he still owns the building and property where which the business is located. He hinted to reporters that now he was considering selling these assets to repay the loan.