David Littleproud, Minister for Drought and Rural Finance, has announced the new Regional Investment Corporation loan for farm-dependent small businesses will be available from Monday (Jan. 20).

“As drought continues to hit small businesses across rural Australia, the RIC’s AgBiz Drought Loans will offer financial relief,” Mr Littleproud said.

“Small businesses are the lifeblood of our regional communities and they’re doing their best to serve farm businesses also affected by this drought.

“Those businesses – livestock transporters, equipment repairers, harvesting contractors – can use these small business drought loans to refinance existing debt or just keep their businesses going until the drought breaks.

Loans of up to $500,000 will be available with a two-year interest free period. Following those first two years, concessional interest-only payments will apply before principal and interest payments are required in the final five years of the 10-year loan term.

Guidelines and application forms for these new loans will be available on the RIC’s website www.ric.gov.au on Monday (Jan. 20).