Australia will extend its coronavirus loan guarantee scheme for small businesses and increase the credit limit to up to 1 million AUD from 250,000 AUD, Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said on Monday. 

The expanded scheme, which will begin in October this year and run till June 2021, will also allow businesses with a turnover of under 50 million AUD to apply for loans to fund their investment plans. Current rules allow firms to use the loan only for working capital purposes.

According to estimates by the Australian government, more than 15,600 small businesses have applied for this loan so far, totaling 1.5 billion Australian dollars (1.05 billion US dollars).