Govt keeps $14b in covid fund for global slide, lockdown risk

Mon, 20 Jul 2020

Leaving $14 billion available in the country's covid-19 recovery fund is prudent given the deteriorating outlook for the world economy and the risk that New Zealand could yet have to go back into a second lockdown, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said. While the government is doing everything it can to avoid another lockdown, Ardern said it had to also be prepared for that risk and be prepared for the cost of that. The cost of the wage subsidy in the first lockdown was "over $10 billion. So what we're leaving here is $14 billion," she told...

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