A new wage subsidy scheme is being rolled out, alongside an extension of the mortgage deferral scheme, the Government announced today.
The new scheme is estimated to cost $510 million and cover 470,000 jobs.
Finance Minister Grant Robertson said the new wage subsidy "will help support cashflow and confidence".
The new wage subsidy must require a business to have had, or is predicting to have, a revenue drop due to Covid-19 of at least 40 per cent.
The revenue drop must have occurred for at least 14 days between August 12 and September 10.
"Along with the existing wage subsidy extension – which is open until 1 September for eligible businesses – the Treasury estimates that about 930,000 jobs will be covered by the two schemes," Mr Robertson said.
"To further support wide-scale testing, we’ve removed the revenue-drop and 'negatively impacted' tests for the Covid-19 Leave Support Scheme.
"This means businesses with workers who have been told by health officials or their medical practitioner to self-isolate will receive the equivalent of the wage subsidy to help cover that person’s wages for the time they cannot be at work."
The mortgage deferral scheme is also being extended, with a new end-date of March 31, 2021, from September 27 this year.
More work is also set to be done on the Small Business Cashflow Loan Scheme, Mr Robertson said.
National's finance spokesperson Paul Goldsmith said the party supported the moves on the wage subsidy, "but ongoing subsidies can’t hide the heavy price Kiwis are paying for the Government’s border failures".
"Despite tens of billions of dollars of stimulus, more than 70,000 New Zealanders have gone on to Government unemployment benefits since the first lockdown in March.
"This second lockdown will cost more jobs and put families under intense pressure.
"Effective border management is the foundation on which our economy can recover," Mr Goldsmith said.
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