The Greater 91原创 Chamber of Commerce cheered a recent move by B.C. Premier David Eby to call for extended federal loan repayment schedules for small businesses.

Eby, along with other provincial and territorial leaders, wrote a joint letter calling on the federal government to extend the repayment schedule for Canada Emergency Business Account (CEBA) loans.

鈥淯nless the government acts to extend this deadline, a lot of local businesses will face the prospect of losing the forgivable portion and could then suddenly have tens of thousands of additional debt to bear,鈥� said Cory Redekop, CEO of the chamber. 鈥淭his will be fatal for some businesses.鈥�

Eby linked the CEBA forgiveness to the rising costs of living that are hitting everyone.

鈥淛ust when many small businesses are starting to find their feet after the pandemic, they鈥檙e now being walloped by rising inflation and interest rates,鈥� the premier said in a statement. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 why I鈥檓 joining other premiers in asking the federal government to give small businesses a chance to recover with more time to qualify for loan forgiveness and by extending CEBA loan repayments for another year.鈥�

The CEBA loan program was one of a raft of programs floated during the early part of the COVID-19 pandemic.

CEBA offered interest-free loans of up to $60,000 to small businesses and non-profits. The businesses then had to pay back the bulk of the loan by a certain deadline 鈥� currently extended to Jan. 18, 2024 鈥� and up to a third of the loan, potentially $20,000, would be forgiven.

But many of the small businesses in 91原创 are struggling to repay the money, and they are at risk of missing the January deadline and therefore, losing the forgivable portion of the loan, said Redekop.

The chamber recently surveyed members who accepted CEBA loans, and found that to try to repay the loan, 24 per cent of businesses expected to use personal savings, 20 per cent would take on personal debt, and 30 per cent expected to restrict either hiring or business spending to make the payment.

A full 23 per cent simply did not expect to make the repayment deadline at all, said Redekop.

There were 122,890 businesses in B.C. approved for CEBA loans, worth more than $6.6 billion. That means the average amount borrowed was just over $53,700.

Redekop said many have not recovered over the last several years, facing supply chain issues, labour supply issues, rising prices, inflation, and labour costs.

鈥淚鈥檝e personally spoken with business owners who are looking at using personal lines of credit or tapping into their home equity to make this payment, which I鈥檓 sure isn鈥檛 what the government intended as a result of this program,鈥� Redekop said.

Redekop has pointed out in the past that 98 per cent of businesses in B.C. qualify as small businesses 鈥� those employing fewer than 50 workers.

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