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Saudi Arabia has fallen behind in making payments on its $15-billion arms deal with Canada, a contract that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has said he’s looking for ways to halt.

The Saudi government was short $1.8 billion in payments to the end of September for light-armoured vehicles assembled at General Dynamics Land Systems Canada (GDLS) in London, according to financial statements from the Canadian Commercial Corp., the federal Crown corporation overseeing the controversial contract.

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“It is a problem. There is concern, absolutely,” a federal official with knowledge of the agreement told The London Free Press on Wednesday.

The arrears on the deal can be traced to a new regime in Saudi Arabia since the agreement was signed in 2014, and there have been delays in payments since the change, said the official, who declined to be identified.

“That changed the way everything worked, including payments,” he said of the desert kingdom’s new leadership.