Government SME Recovery Loan Scheme

The Federal Government’s SME Recovery Loan Scheme is designed to support the economic recovery and provide continued assistance to SMEs dealing with the economic impacts of the coronavirus crisis.

The Scheme is enhancing lenders’ abilities to provide cheaper credit to otherwise viable SMEs for additional funding to get through the Coronavirus crisis, recover and invest for the future. The Government will work with lenders to ensure eligible firms have access to finance to maintain and grow their businesses.

Under the existing SME Recovery Loan Scheme, loans are available from 1 April 2021 until 31 December 2021 with a Government guarantee of 80 per cent. Under the 2022 Scheme expansion, loans are available from 1 January 2022 until 30 June 2022, with a Government guarantee of 50 per cent.

• The Government guarantee will be 80% of your loan amount.
• Lenders are allowed to offer you a repayment holiday of up to 24 months.
• Loans can be used for a broad range of business purposes, including to support investment. Loans may be used to refinance any pre-existing debt of an eligible borrower, including those from the SME Guarantee Scheme.
• You can access up to $5 million in total, in addition to the Phase 1 and Phase 2 loan limits.
• Your loans are for terms of up to 10 years, with an optional repayment holiday period.
• Your loans can be either unsecured or secured (excluding residential property).
• The interest rate on your loans will be determined by lenders, but will be capped at around 7.5 per cent, with some flexibility for interest rates on variable rate loans to increase if market interest rates rise over time.