Wage subsidies extended; business loans, mortgage support coming

Wage subsidies extended; business loans, mortgage support coming
Pattrick Smellie
The government has scrapped the $150,000 upper limit a business can claim under the covid-19 wage subsidy scheme as part of a wider package of new initiatives to make credit available to viable firms and take the pressure off home mortgage payments.Finance Minister Grant Robertson announced the change, which will blow the cost of wage subsidies out from an estimated $5.1 billion to $9.3 billion.The rules of the scheme are also being tweaked to deal with companies that had been experiencing strong revenue growth before the covid-19 crisis hit.La...

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Staff reporters 27 Nov 2025