Business loan scheme extension, flexiwage pledges

WELLINGTON: Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has promised rapid approval of extensions to the small business loan scheme and the flexiwage programme before Christmas.

She was also keen to lead trade missions to the United States, China, Britain and Europe as soon as Covid19 border restrictions were lifted, she said yesterday in her first major speech since the election, to a business audience in Auckland.

She said Parliament would pass the extensions to the small business loan scheme and Cabinet would approve the flexiwage scheme in order to encourage job creation over the ChristmasNew Year period.

Cabinet would also in the coming weeks approve more infrastructure projects to go through the RMA fasttrack process.

Unemployment rates released this week reached 5.3% — representing another 37,000 people unemployed in the September quarter (a total of 151,000), the largest quarterly increase since the series began in 1986.

Ms Ardern said the rates were better than others, however, and the flexiwage scheme could provide work for up to 40,000 people.

‘‘Yesterday’s [Wednesday’s] betterthanexpected unemployment numbers highlighted the relative strength of the New Zealand economy, with fewer people unemployed here than in Australia, the US and Canada,’’ she said.

‘‘However, we cannot rest on our laurels and we want to see more New Zealanders obtain work, which is why we are prioritising the rollout of the flexiwage scheme prior to Christmas.’’

The Government had two overarching objectives: to accelerate the economic recovery and to keep New Zealanders safe from Covid, and its priorities reflected those objectives, she said. — The New Zealand Herald