Data Extraction

No amount/estimate: April: The Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) (i) announced a corporate facility that will offer up to NZD500 million per week in open market operations with banks against corporate paper and asset-backed securities for 3 months; and (ii) established a new Term Auction Facility (TAF), which allows banks access to collateralized loans of up to 12 months.

No amount/estimate: April, The exchange rate has been allowed to adjust flexibly.

(i) No amount/estimate: April, The RBNZ is introducing a Term Lending Facility (TLF), a longer-term funding scheme for banks at low interest rates for up to 3 years duration. On May 04, further details have been announced, i.e., under the facility, RBNZ will offer to lend funds to banks at the official cash rate of 0.25%, and will be available to use for six months, starting from May 26 and ending on October 29. On August 20, RBNZ announced that the term has been extended to five years from three years [update]; (ii) April 7, The RBNZ announced that it has added NZD3 billion (equivalent to 30% on issue) of Local Government Funding Agency (LGFA) debt to the Large-Scale Asset Program (LSAP) (See Measure 10 notes: No breakdown).

No amount/estimate: (i) March 27, RBNZ (a) cut the official cash rate (OCR) by 75 basis points to 0.25% (at least 12 months), and (b) reduced bank’s core funding ratio requirement to 50% from 75% to help banks make credit available; (ii) March, The implementation date of regulatory reform requiring higher capital for banks has been postponed to July 2021; (iii) March, Other regulatory initiatives are also put on hold; (iv) March, RBNZ announced that there will be no dividend payments on ordinary shares and redemption of non-CET1 capital instruments; (v) April 30, RBNZ has removed loan-to-value ratio (LVR) restrictions on housing loans for 1 year (until May 2021).

April, NZD6.25 billion business finance guarantee scheme for small and medium enterprises (SME) loans, in which the government covers 80% of the credit risk.

(i) April, NZD0.9 billion debt funding agreement (convertible to equity) with Air New Zealand to ensure continued freight operations, domestic flights, and limited international flights; (ii) No amount/estimate: May, The New Zealand government provides loans of up to NZD100,000 to small businesses that employ 50 or less employees.

No amount/estimate: April: (i) NZL government, RBNZ, and the New Zealand Bankers Association announced a six-month principal and interest repayment deferrals to mortgage holders and SMEs affected by COVID-19; (ii) The government has also committed to a temporary law change to enable businesses to put existing debt into hibernation for 6 months; (iii) August 17, RBNZ announced an extension of the regulatory guidance for the mortgage deferrals program. The extension will apply until 31 March 2021, at which point the usual treatment will resume. Banks will still be able to offer deferrals to borrowers after this date, but they will not have the same concessionary regulatory treatment [update].

(i) April, NZD0.5 billion (0.2% of GDP) for healthcare-related spending to reinforce capacity; (ii) No amount/estimate: March 28, The government announced the temporary removal of tariffs on all medical and hygiene imports needed for the COVID-19 response.

April: (i) Total NZD2.4 billion (0.8% of GDP) as permanent increase in social spending to protect vulnerable people over the next 4 years; (ii) NZD13 billion (4.3% of GDP), a lumpsum 12-week wage subsidy to support employers severely affected by the impact of COVID-19. On May 14, the government announced additional funding of up to NZD3.2 billion in Budget 2020 for a targeted extension of the wage subsidy. The targeted extension provides for a further 8 weeks of payments after the program ends on June 9; (iii) NZD2.8 billion (0.9% of GDP) of permanent change in business taxes to help cashflow over the next 4 years; (iv) NZD3.1 billion as temporary tax loss carry-back scheme (1% of GDP) over the next 2 years; (v) NZD0.6 billion (0.2% of GDP) support for the aviation sector; (vi) No amount/measure: 6-month freeze on residential rent increases and increased protection of tenants for termination of tenancies.

May, The RBNZ has doubled the overdraft on the crown settlement account to NZD10 billion for April–June to meet the government's short-term cash needs.

April, The RBNZ has been implementing LSAP to purchase government bonds in the secondary market up to NZD30 billion across a range of maturities. On May 13, The Monetary Policy Committee has agreed to significantly expand the LSAP programme to NZD60 billion. On August 12, LSAP programme was expanded to NZD100 billion (See amount in Measure 10 notes: No breakdown).

April, The RBNZ has been providing liquidity in the foreign exchange swap market and reestablished a temporary United States (US) dollar swap line (USD30 billion) with the US Federal Reserve.

May 19, The New Zealand Government is contributing NZD7 million to help some of the world’s most vulnerable people who are at severe risk of COVID-19. The funding is going towards the United Nations-led Global Humanitarian Response Plan (GHRP) for COVID-19.

April, The RBNZ has been implementing a Large-Scale Asset Program (LSAP) to purchase government bonds in the secondary market up to NZD30 billion across a range of maturities. April 7, The RBNZ announced that it has added NZD3 billion (equivalent to 30% on issue) of Local Government Funding Agency (LGFA) debt to the LSAP, taking the total size of the LSAP to NZD33 billion over 12 months. On May 13, The Monetary Policy Committee has agreed to significantly expand the LSAP programme to NZD60 billion, up from the previous NZD33 billion limit. On August 12, LSAP programme was expanded to NZD100 billion (See Measures 2A and 7B).

March 28, The government announced the temporary removal of tariffs on all medical and hygiene imports needed for the COVID-19 response.

April: (i) Social distancing measures and closure of all non-essential businesses, cancellation of all events and gatherings, closure of schools, and cancellation of discretionary domestic air travel; (ii) Closing of the borders to all but New Zealand citizens, who must self-isolate for at least 14 days upon entry; and (iii) The government announced that New Zealand will move to Alert Level 3 starting April 27, 11:59pm, allowing many businesses to re-open, though without physical contact to customers, and schools to re-open with limited capacity; (iv) May 14, New Zealand moved to Alert Level 2; (iv) May 20, The Ministry of Health has released the NZ COVID Tracer app to support contact tracing in New Zealand; (v) June 9, The government announced that New Zealand has moved to Alert Level 1 starting June 8, where everyone can return without restriction to work, school, sports, and domestic travel, and can get together with as many people. Controls at the borders remain for those entering New Zealand, including health screening and testing for all arrivals, and mandatory 14-day managed quarantine or isolation; (vi) July 15, The government launched the “Stamp it Out” plan for responding to new cases, which includes several scenarios and their impacts on individuals, businesses, and other organizations such as schools; (vii) August 24, Due to new confirmed cases, the government announced that Auckland will stay at Alert Level 3 until 11:59pm on 30 August, while the rest of the country will remain at Alert Level 2 [update]; (viii) August 28, Auckland will join the rest of New Zealand at Alert Level 2 on 31 August, where the country will remain for at least another week [update].

No amount/estimate: April, The Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) (i) announced a corporate facility that will offer up to NZD500 million per week in open market operations with banks against corporate paper and asset-backed securities for 3 months; and (ii) established a new Term Auction Facility (TAF), which allows banks access to collateralized loans of up to 12 months.

No amount/estimate: April, The exchange rate has been allowed to adjust flexibly.

No amount/estimate: April, The RBNZ is introducing a Term Lending Facility (TLF), a longer-term funding scheme for banks at low interest rates for up to 3 years duration. On May 04, further details have been announced, i.e., under the facility, RBNZ will offer to lend funds to banks at the official cash rate of 0.25%, and will be available to use for six months, starting from May 26 and ending on October 29 [update].

No amount/estimate: (i) March 27, RBNZ (a) cut the official cash rate (OCR) by 75 basis points to 0.25% (at least 12 months), and (b) reduced bank’s core funding ratio requirement to 50% from 75% to help banks make credit available; (ii) The implementation date of regulatory reform requiring higher capital for banks has been postponed to July 2021; (iii) March, Other regulatory initiatives are also put on hold; (iv) RBNZ announced that there will be no dividend payments on ordinary shares and redemption of non-CET1 capital instruments; (v) April 30, RBNZ has removed loan-to-value ratio (LVR) restrictions on housing loans for 1 year (until May 2021).

April, NZD6.25 billion business finance guarantee scheme for small and medium enterprises (SME) loans, in which the government covers 80% of the credit risk.

(i) April, NZD0.9 billion debt funding agreement (convertible to equity) with Air New Zealand to ensure continued freight operations, domestic flights, and limited international flights.

No amount/estimate: April, (i) NZL government, RBNZ, and the New Zealand Bankers Association announced a six-month principal and interest repayment deferrals to mortgage holders and SMEs affected by COVID-19; (ii) The government has also committed to a temporary law change to enable businesses to put existing debt into hibernation for 6 months.