Government measures in key jurisdictions 3rd edition final - Flipbook - Page 87
Richard Smith | richard.smith@duncancotterill.com | +64 21 905 510
Malcom Harrington | malcolm.harrington@duncancotterill.com | +64 21 274 0321
Loans and
financial
support
Has the
government put in
place any new
bank funding
schemes?
The
is being offered by the Government alongside private
banks to help provide temporary financial support to businesses.
This scheme is available to small to medium-sized New Zealand business facing temporary financial
stress due to COVID-19, for a short-term bridging loan of up to $500,000 from a bank. The Government
will carry 80 percent of the credit risk for the scheme, to encourage lending. Loans are otherwise on
commercial terms. Details of the Business Finance Guarantee Scheme are available here.
In addition, the Government has established a Small Business Cashflow Loan Scheme, to provide
assistance of up to $100,000 to firms employing 50 or fewer full-time equivalent employees. The scheme
is also available to sole-traders and the self-employed.
The Scheme provides loans of up to $10,000 to every firm and an additional $1,800 per equivalent fulltime employee. These loans will be interest free if they are paid back within a year. After that the
interest rate will be 3% for a maximum term of five years. Repayments will not be required for the first
two years of the loan. Details of the Small Business Cashflow Loan Scheme are available here.
Employment
What
financial support is
the government
providing to
businesses and to
individuals on
employment
issues?
The Government established a
, providing payments for each employee for
twelve weeks. Businesses would qualify for the payment if they experienced a 30 percent loss of income
attributable to Covid-19.
An employer also had to agree to use best endeavours to pay the employees named in the application at
least 80 per cent of their usual wages or salary. If that isn’t possible, employers need to pay at least the full
amount of the subsidy to the employee. Details of the Wage Subsidy Scheme are available here.
The
is available to employers, including sole traders, who are still significantly
effected by Covid-19 after the Wage Subsidy Scheme ends in June 2020. The obligation to pass on the
subsidy remains the same, but to be entitled to the extension a business must show that they have suffered,
or expect to suffer, a revenue loss of at least 50% for the 30 days prior to the application date, compared to
the closest period last year.
This is currently described as lasting for eight weeks. The Government has not ruled out further extensions.
Details of the Wage Subsidy Extension are available here.
Immigration New Zealand has also made changes to the application of the Immigration Act 2009 to provide
comfort to
:
•
•
Visitor, student or work visa holders with an expiry date of 1 April 2020 or earlier and who are unable to
leave New Zealand must apply for a new visa online. An interim visa will be issued.
Visitor, student or work visa holders with an expiry date of 2 April to 9 July 2020 and who are in New
Zealand on 2 April 2020 will have their visas automatically extended to 25 September 2020.
Conditions on a work visa may also be varied to allow a visa-holder to change the employer, occupation, or
location conditions.
Emergency benefits may also be granted to people who need assistance but would not otherwise qualify for
them, including temporary visa holders. More details about the changes for visas are available here.
Since the end of the COVID-19 Alert Level Four lockdown, the New Zealand Government has been
encouraging the rebuilding of various industries. Part of this has included an Immigration Border Exemption
to allow critical workers an exemption to the border closure.
There are various criteria depending on whether the role is short term or long term. To date it has been
used to bring to New Zealand key workers for major infrastructure projects, and also workers on projects
which aim to boost the New Zealand economy, such as film and television projects and the America’s Cup.
Details about the border exemptions are available here.
Government measures in key jurisdictions
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