7. Question No. 7—RevenueGINNY ANDERSEN (Labour) to the Minister of RevenueQuestion No. 7—Revenue7. GINNY ANDERSEN (Labour) to the Minister of Revenue: What advice has he seen about the take-up of the Small Business Cashflow (Loan) Scheme?Hon STUART NASH (Minister of Revenue): The Government took decisive and considered action to support small businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic. Inland Revenue advised me that almost 100000 small businesses have applied for an interest-free loan totalling more than $1.6 billion. Around 81 percent of the loans have gone to small and medium businesses with one to five staff and around 11 percent of applicants have six to 10 staff. Interestingly 61 percent of loans have gone to mature or longstanding firms that are at least five years old. Only around 6 percent of loans have gone to new firms that are less than one year old. As the economy starts to open up and recover many businesses have begun repaying their loans. Around 3500 small to medium sized enterprises (SMEs) have repaid almost $15 million so far. The interest-free loans are a cheap source of working capital for firms that find themselves in a tough spot. They have proven to be a popular and fast way to access capital for viable but vulnerable small businesses.Ginny Andersen: What advice has he seen around the regional distribution of the Small Business Cashflow (Loan) Scheme?Hon STUART NASH: Inland Revenue advises that one in four small businesses has received a small business cash-flow loan. The lion's share of interest-free loans or around 41 percent has gone to SMEs in Auckland. That's more than 42000 businesses that have applied for almost $700 million. Around 12 percent or $192 million of loans has gone to the Christchurch region; 9 percent or $144 million has gone to Wellington; and 7 percent or $111 million has gone to Hamilton-based small businesses. SMEs in smaller regions and cities have also made good use of the initiative. Around a third of all loan applicants are from outside these main centres. For example Napier has had almost 2500 applications for $42 million in loans. The loan scheme is only three months old. The wide distribution across the country and repayments show the efficacy of this policy and I urge small businesses to check out the Inland Revenue website to see what help may be available to them through the tax system.Ginny Andersen: What advice has he seen around the industry breakdowns of small business cash-flow loans?Hon STUART NASH: Construction accommodation and food services professional industries retail trade and manufacturing have received the most loan proceeds to date but while the construction industry has received most loan proceeds the largest loans on average or around $22000 per business were approved for applicants operating in the accommodation and food services. Inland Revenue analysis also shows that almost 50 percent of transport postal and warehousing providers have received a loan compared to roughly only 8 percent of all businesses in the agriculture forestry and fishing sector. Together with the numerous Government initiatives such as the wage subsidy and the loss carry-back scheme these measures are designed to cushion the blow of COVID-19 on our nation's small businesses.