Efforts designed to keep us going, including wage subsidies, targeted rescue packages, and low interest rates, gave many businesses a lifeline. About 375,000 people remain on wage subsidy payments, including those on the resurgence subsidy, launched after Auckland went into a second lockdown. According to the Ministry of Social Development, the government has received $435.6m in wage subsidy refunds, or 14,730 inbound payments, as of September 4. REINZ said low interest rates and the Reserve Bank’s removal of loan-to-value restrictions contributed to the record numbers. Duke declined to comment on the wage subsidy, but confirmed Briscoes had not made any redundancies, nor cut workers’ hours, through the Covid crisis.

Source: Stuff September 16, 2020 16:52 UTC