OTTAWA — The federal government is expanding a loan program for small businesses and introducing a new program to help small businesses pay their rent for the next three months.

The Canadian Emergency Business Account (CEBA) was introduced previously to help businesses with payrolls between $50,000 and $1 million. Trudeau says more than 195,000 loans have been approved already, worth more than $7.5 billion.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau today said CEBA will be opened to those with payrolls as low as $20,000 or as high as $1.5 million.

He says there will be more details coming on the rent assistance for small businesses but it has to be done with the provinces because they have jurisdiction over rental relationships.

The Canada Emergency Commercial Rent Assistance program will help small businesses with rent payments for April, May and June.