CEBA was available from April 9, 2020, to June 30, 2021, and provided $49 billion in interest-free, partially forgivable loans of up to $60,000 to nearly 900,000 small businesses and not-for-profit organizations to help cover their operating costs during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“For CEBA loan holders who make a refinancing application with the financial institution that provided their CEBA loan by Jan. 18, 2024, the repayment deadline to qualify for partial loan forgiveness now includes a refinancing extension until March 28, 2024,” theLoans that are still outstanding on Jan. 19, 2024, will convert to three-year term loans, subject to interest of five per cent per year, the government said, “with the term-loan repayment date extended by an additional year from Dec.
“We’re a little disappointed… that our request… to extend this another year hasn’t been granted,” he added. “The government has now made it so that the year-long extension on the CEBA repayment is conditional on beginning repayments and refinancing the loan in full by March 28, 2024,” Restaurants Canada explained in a news release.
“We need the federal government to extend the interest-free period and allow restaurants to access the forgivable portion of these emergency loans that were taken out to survive the COVID-19 lockdowns.”According to a Restaurants Canada survey in July, 51 per cent of restaurants are operating at a loss or barely breaking even, compared to 12 per cent pre-pandemic.