30% of Auckland firms say they aren't confident they'll survive

Wednesday, 8 April 2020

Auckland Chamber of Commerce chief executive Michael Barnett is pushing for more help for businesses from the Government, with rent relief now top of mind.

Thirty per cent of Auckland businesses are not confident they will survive the coronavirus pandemic, according to a survey conducted by the Auckland Chamber of Commerce.

Chief executive Michael Barnett said almost half of the firms it polled – 47 per cent – were continuing to operate during the lockdown and the same proportion had talked to their landlord about rent relief.

So far, only 9 per cent of the businesses it polled had laid off staff.

But Barnett said more help was needed as the chamber believed more businesses could be saved if the Government acted immediately to remove their rental costs 'for the next couple of months'.

'We have spoken with government, have made recommendations and quite frankly I am hoping the Government will do this one thing because it is the one thing that will have a big impact on business,' he said.

The roads may be deserted but 47 per cent of Auckland firms are finding a way to do some work through the crisis.

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But Barnett said he felt the chamber's appeal was 'falling on deaf ears'.

If the Government didn't respond with assistance for rent and tenancy costs, more businesses would fail, he said.

He was encouraged 91 per cent of the businesses the chamber polled had not cut jobs so far, and 80 per cent had applied for wage subsidies.

'This is not a time to cull.

'It's time to use your employees to contact customers [and] plan for what your business will look like in four to six weeks' time,' he said.

The chamber's call for extra assistance came on the heels of a report by the New Zealand Initiative think tank which argued that the Government's wage subsidies – which are already being claimed to pay 41 per cent of the country's workforce – were not as generous as those offered in some other countries and perhaps 'insufficient'.

But Finance Minister Grant Robertson said the Government had moved 'fast and early' and similar schemes in a number of countries were not yet paying out.