Data Extraction

The Government’s COVID-19 Economic Response Plan with a total value of NZD61 million has three objectives. The first is to stimulate demand through support to local business to ensure that the economy is able to continue to operate, even at a reduced level, during this period of extreme uncertainty surrounding COVID-19. The second is to support the livelihoods of those that are likely to be most affected by the economic fallout, including those required to self-isolate, those that lose their jobs and the elderly and infirm. The third objective is to achieve the first two objectives in a fiscally responsible manner that does not undermine the Government’s ability to undertake further fiscal intervention over the longer-term, should that prove necessary. Breakdown as follows: (i) NZD5 million, Ministry of Health; (ii) NZD2.3 million support for self-isolation; (iii) NZD2 million small capital works program; (iv) NZD12 million major capital projects; (v) NZD0.97 million unemployment benefit; (vi) NZD22.51 million wage subsidy; (vii) NZD1 million child benefit payment; (vii) NZD0.87 million one-off welfare payment; (viii) NZD50 thousand redeployment program; (ix) NZD3.36 million business grants; (x) NZD2.32 million indirect costs (tax relief, TAU,etc).

(i) USD0.50 million under the TA 9950-REG: Regional Support to Address the Outbreak of COVID-19 and Potential Outbreaks of Other Communicable Diseases; (ii) April 24, USD0.11 million technical assistance under Developing the Pacific Health Sector (Additional Financing).

By end of March, NZD7 million from New Zealand in direct budgetary support for the Cook Islands' COVID-19 response measures.

(i) April 16, Prime Minister, Hon. Henry Puna, declared the Cook Islands "a COVID-19 free zone", however the country remains in Code Yellow with relaxed restrictions; and (ii) Restrictions have been lifted for the following areas (a) schools are now open, (b) travel between the Pa Enua (Outer Islands) open, (c) churches are now open, (d) social gatherings are no longer limited to 10 people, (e) alcohol retail sales extended until 6pm, (f) non-contact sports may resume, and (g) restaurants & cafes may re-open.

No amount/estimate: 12 March, Conducting additional longer-term refinancing operations (LTROs) temporarily (with an interest rate equal to the average rate on the deposit facility, -0.50% currently).

No amount/estimate: (i) The ECB also announced a broad package of collateral easing measures for Eurosytem credit operations in early April. These include a permanent collateral haircut reduction of 20 percent for non-marketable assets, and temporary measures for the duration of the PEPP (with a view to re-assess their effectiveness before the end of 2020) such as a reduction of collateral haircuts by 20 percent and expansion of collateral eligibility to include Greek sovereign bonds as well as an expansion of the scope of so-called additional credit claims framework so that it may also include public sector-guaranteed loans to SMEs, self-employed individuals, and households. In a move to mitigate the impact of possible rating downgrades on collateral availability , on April 22, the ECB also announced that it would grandfather until September 2021 the eligibility of marketable assets used as collateral in Eurosystem credit operations falling below current minimum credit quality requirements of “BBB-“ (“A-“ for asset-backed securities) as long as their rating remains at or above “BB” and “BB+”, respectively. Assets that fall below these minimum credit quality requirements will be subject to haircuts based on their actual ratings; (ii) Allow major banks (directly supervised by the ECB) to operate temporarily below the level of capital defined by the Pillar 2 Guidance (P2G), the capital conservation buffer (CCB) and the liquidity coverage ratio (LCR).

(i) March 12, Adding a temporary envelope of additional net asset purchases of EUR120 billion until the end of the year; (ii) March 18, launched a new temporary asset purchase programme of private and public sector securities (Pandemic Emergency Purchase Programme, PEPP) with an overall envelope of EUR 750 billion until the end of 2020. Some self-imposed purchase limits will not apply to the PEPP. A waiver of the eligibility requirements for securities issued by the Greek government will be granted for purchases under PEPP. Based on The European Central Bank is “fully prepared” to provide even more stimulus as soon as June to support an economy that may shrink by a tenth this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the accounts of the bank’s April meeting showed on Friday; (iii) expanding the range of eligible assets under the corporate sector purchase programme (CSPP) to non-financial commercial paper; (iv) June 4, The PEPP envelope will be increased by EUR600 billion to a total of EUR1,350 billion. The purchases will continue to be conducted in a flexible manner over time, across asset classes and among jurisdictions. This allows the Governing Council to effectively stave off risks to the smooth transmission of monetary policy. The horizon for net purchases under the PEPP will be extended to at least the end of June 2021. In any case, the Governing Council will conduct net asset purchases under the PEPP until it judges that the coronavirus crisis phase is over [update].

(i) March 12, Lowering the interest rate applied in targeted longer-term refinancing operations (TLTRO III) during the period from June 2020 to June 2021 (25 basis points below the average rate applied in the Eurosystem's main refinancing operations). The targeted longer-term refinancing operations (TLTROs) are Eurosystem operations that provide financing to credit institutions. By offering banks long-term funding at attractive conditions they preserve favourable borrowing conditions for banks and stimulate bank lending to the real economy. It is estimated that the facility could provide up to around EUR3 trillion in at a negative rate, which can be as low as -0.75%, the lowest rate ECB ever offered. On April 30, ECB lowered the rate on the third round of targeted longer-term refinancing operations (TLTRO III) to -1% from -0.75%. On the same day, ECB decided to conduct a series of seven pandemic emergency longer-term refinancing operations (PELTROs) to provide liquidity support to the euro area financial system and ensure smooth money market conditions during the pandemic period. No amount/estimate: (ii) relaxation of countercyclical capital buffer (CCyB); (iii) March 20, Flexibility in treatment of non-performing loans (NPLs) to allow banks to fully benefit from public guarantees and moratoriums and of banks' implementation of NPL reduction strategies; (iv) March 27, requirement for banks not to pay dividends until at least 1 October 2020.; (v) see (ii) on CCB in Measure 1; (vi) April 28, the European Commission proposed a number of changes to the Capital Requirements Regulation (Regulation (EU) 575/2013) to provide temporary capital relief to banks. These changes include inter alia extending by 2 years the current transitional arrangements for mitigating the impact of IFRS 9 provisions on regulatory capital, a later date of application of the leverage ratio buffer for global systemically important institutions, a more favourable treatment of publicly guaranteed loans under the NPL prudential backstop (the minimum loss coverage requirement for non-performing loans), and advancing the date of application of capital reduction factors in respect of certain loans to SMEs or in support of infrastructure investments; (vii) No amount/estimate: April 30, New series of non-targeted pandemic emergency longer-term refinancing operations, conducted as fixed rate tender procedures with full allotment, rate fixed at 25bp below refi rate. Operations mature in staggered sequence between July-September 2021.