The government is still considering special assistance for parts of the economy, such as international tourist services and large events companies, which are unlikely to be able to restart operations even when the country moves to alert level 2 or 1.
"We always said we want to keep monitoring theimpact on different sectors and I would say tourism is the very obvious one," Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said at her post-Cabinet press conference today. She then singled out "those who work in large events."
"Let's not forget they were among the first to be affected and the last who are likely to be able to operate."
The combination of a long period in which physical distancing rules will continue and 'hard' border restrictions mean businesses that have relied disproportionately on international tourism or on entertaining large crowds of people face many months of low or no trading, even after hospitality businesses and retailers can return to work under alert level 2, which could apply from mid-May.
Asked whether the wage subsidy could be extended beyond 12 weeks for such sectors, Ardern said: "That's potentially where we're looking at more specific and specially designed initiatives that would address the needs of what is a very particular set of businesses.
"Bear in mind, with the wage subsidy, here we are after five weeks in, with a 12-week subsidy still in place and so, for us, it's looking at whether there are more specific initiatives that should be designed."
Ardern faced numerous questions from reporters who had sat through Parliament's pandemic response select committee hearing this morning, which heard from a string of small business owners, including retailers desperate to be allowed to open and arguing the incidence of the Covid-19 virus was so low that the lockdown should be further eased immediately.
However, she made clear that for most small businesses, the 12-week wage subsidy would be the primary means of support.
"Not everyone is going to make it but we do want to make sure that those businesses that are vulnerable but viable are supported," she said. "With every decision we've made, we've always moved as quickly as we can but the wage subsidy has been a very big part of trying to meet some of that immediate cashflow. The majority has gone to small businesses."
She held out little prospect of direct government assistance to deal with commercial rents, despite some businesses finding landlords unsympathetic to pleas for rent relief to reflect the current period of either no or low revenues.
"This is where we really did look into what we can provide and there are limitations on how far we could go as a government when it came to commercial leases," Ardern said.
"Those commercial landlords in this particular environment, not coming to an arrangement that's workable for them and their tenants, they may find they have a vacant property at a time when it's very difficult to lease," she said.
She urged small and medium-sized businesses to make use of tax changes intended to assist cashflow, to use the wage subsidy scheme and "talk to your bank and talk to your landlord."
"In the meantime, as a government, we will keep looking and assessing what we can do to keep those businesses operating and keep those businesses afloat."
