On September 14, 2023, the Government of Canada announced that recipients of the Canada Emergency Business Account (CEBA) loan will receive an extra year to repay the loans in full. This announcement is a positive signal that government has heard the repeated calls from the CFA and other business advocacy groups about Canadian businesses’ challenges in our current economic climate.
However, the details of the CEBA loan repayment extension fails to provide realistic and adequate deadlines for loan forgiveness extensions to businesses needing to refinance and does not reflect the severity of financial strain and difficulty many Canadian small businesses face today.

Here’s what members need to know:

• The deadline to repay the CEBA loan in full, in order to qualify for up to 33% loan forgiveness, has been extended from December 31, 2023, to January 18, 2024.
• Those who apply for refinancing through a financial institution by January 18, 2024, with have until March 28, 2024, to repay the CEBA loan and qualify for up to 33% loan forgiveness.
• As of January 19, 2024, all outstanding loans, including those captured by the refinancing extension, will convert to a three-year term loan, at a 5% annual interest rate.
• The term loan repayment date has been extended from December 31, 2025, to December 31, 2026.

The CFA continues to lobby the government to extend the loan forgiveness deadline and will keep members apprised on developments through Advocacy Alerts.

If you would like to understand more about the CEBA loan repayment program, please contact Derek Robertson, Senior Manager, Government Relations at drobertson@cfa.ca.