6. Question No. 6—FinanceGINNY ANDERSEN (Labour) to the Minister of FinanceQuestion No. 6—Finance6. GINNY ANDERSEN (Labour) to the Minister of Finance: What actions has the Government taken to support businesses and households to respond to COVID-19?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON (Minister of Finance): The Government's ability to support businesses and households is backed by our actions to ensure a strong underlying economic base for the New Zealand economy and our strong fiscal position going into COVID-19. Standard & Poor's yesterday held New Zealand's credit rating at AA+ with a positive outlook because of the Government's low debt relative to the rest of the world and the economy's underlying strength. This has allowed the Government to go hard and early in our economic response to COVID-19 to match our health response. This has been led by the $10.7 billion wage subsidy scheme supporting more than 1.7 million workers; the business finance guarantee scheme the largest business tax support package in modern New Zealand history; and further measures announced last week to support small businesses with cash-flow operating costs.Ginny Andersen: What actions is the Government taking to support small businesses through COVID-19?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: On Friday the Government announced the Small Business Cashflow Loan Scheme to provide graduated loans of up to $100000 to viable businesses with 50 or fewer employees to give them access to cash flow to meet fixed costs such as rent. The scheme will provide $10000 to each eligible firm and in addition $1800 per equivalent full-time employee. The interest rate will be 3 percent for a maximum of five years with repayments not required for the first two years. The loans will be interest free if they are repaid within the first year. IRD will have the scheme up and running by 12 May to start accepting applications and we expect the first lending decisions to be made about 48 hours after applications are received.Ginny Andersen: What reports has he seen of reactions to the Small Business Cashflow (Loan) Scheme?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: Many. Employers and Manufacturers Association chief executive Brett O'Riley said his members would welcome the Small Business Cashflow (Loan) Scheme. He said the terms of the scheme are very similar to the Canadian approach which we and other members of the Business New Zealand network encouraged the Government to look at. We thank the Minister of Finance Grant Robertson for this response." I've also received letters of support and emails from a number of other small businesses and indeed the Mayor of the Queenstown Lakes District Council Jim Boult on behalf of the businesses in Queenstown. This scheme has been welcomed.Jami-Lee Ross: Will the Government further support businesses and households by legislating for a rates freeze for the 2020-21 local government rating year; if not why not?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: That is not the intention of the Government.Rt Hon Winston Peters: Has the Minister had regard to a more recently announced scheme in the last 24 hours where businesses will not be able to qualify unless they can prove they've had a 50 percent loss?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: I've seen a number of ideas proposed in recent times. One of the things that are important in these situations is to have consistency. I certainly know that in the case of the people proposing that scheme last week they were describing our scheme as both too loose and too restrictive within hours of each other. Mr Goldsmith and Mr McClay should have a chat with one another.Jami-Lee Ross: Why is the Government not considering providing relief to businesses and households by legislating for a rates freeze?Hon GRANT ROBERTSON: We believe that local government needs to make its own decisions about the level of rates that it's charging at this time. Many of them have responsibilities to co-fund projects that are important to productivity and creating jobs. I'm sure that each local government authority will think very carefully about the level of rates that they charge in this environment."