At the Budget 2020 announcement (14th May 2020), the Government announced a $50 billion COVID-19 Response and Recovery Fund.
This is designed to complement the current COVID response.
The COVID-19 Response and Recovery Fund is designed to provide investment towards:
- Protecting existing jobs
- Creating new jobs
- Providing support for workers to retrain
- Providing support for businesses to survive
Investments totaling $13.9 billion have already been made from the fund to fight COVID-19 and cushion the blow. They are now adding another $15.9 billion of investments to continue the immediate response and kick-start the economy, leaving $20.2 billion remaining for future investment on a yet-to-be-determined basis.
There is still much to be reviewed from the announcements, however it is worth highlighting that this includes specifically a business support package with $3.2 billion targeted for the wage subsidy extension.
Wage subsidy extension
The subsidy will be open for applications for a 12-week period and will be paid as an eight-week lump sum to employers at the same weekly rates as the current wage scheme.
Available to apply from 10th June 2020, businesses that have suffered, or expect to suffer, revenue loss of at least 50 percent for the 30-day period prior to the application date versus the nearest comparable period last year, will be eligible for the extension of the scheme. High growth and new firms will also be eligible, subject to special rules.
The Government is also expanding eligibility to the Wage Subsidy Scheme to include pre-revenue R&D start-up firms that are recognised by Callaghan Innovation.
For further info on any of the announcements made see https://www.budget.govt.nz/, or for the beehive link https://www.beehive.govt.nz/.
From the Graham Brown & Co Team
Kia kaha, stay safe