On Tuesday, the federal government announced that businesses that have been operating out of a non-business banking account can now access the Canada Emergency Business Account (CEBA) by opening a business account.
This follows the October 9th announcement of the intent to introduce major expansions to CEBA to increase the limit to $60,000 and double the non-repayable forgivable portion to $20,000. Those expanded amounts are expected to be available soon.
Not counting the number of farmers who are now eligible because of the change announced Tuesday, over 85,000 farm businesses will have access to the interest-free loans of CEBA, which equates to up to $5.1 billion – one-third of which is forgivable.
As a result, there is the potential of providing up to $1.7 billion directly to farmers through the forgivable portion of their interest-free loans.
To be eligible, businesses must have been operating as a business as of March 1, 2020, must successfully open a business account at a Canadian financial institution that is participating in CEBA, and meet the other existing CEBA eligibility criteria.
The extended deadline to apply for CEBA is December 31, 2020.
CEBA is available at 200+ financial institutions (banks and credit unions).
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