Robertson allocates another $7 billion towards Covid-19 response

Government tops up Covid-19 fund by $7 billion, having already put aside $62 billion for the response since the start of the pandemic

16th Sep 21, 12:38pm by Jenée Tibshraeny

Grant Robertson. Getty Images.

The Government is allocating more money towards paying for the Covid-19 response.

It is topping up its Covid-19 Response and Recovery Fund by $7 billion, having already put aside $62 billion for the response since the start of the pandemic.

Finance Minister Grant Robertson said: “The extra funding will be targeted at further economic support as well as building resilience in our health system, supporting the vaccination rollout and border and MIQ provision.”

As at Monday, $2.3 billion had been paid to businesses in Wage Subsidies and Covid-19 Resurgence Support Payments for this outbreak.

Robertson said the Government is using its “greater fiscal headroom” to top up the Covid-19 fund, implying that at this stage he believes it's unlikely the Government will need to borrow more than it already is to fund the additional expenditure.

The Government’s tax take has been higher than expected, as the economy has been performing more strongly than expected.

What’s more, the Government has been borrowing at a faster rate than it’s been spending.

It had $40.3 billion in its Crown Settlement Account with the Reserve Bank at the end of August. It uses this account to deposit surplus funds. The average balance of this account pre-Covid was only $5 billion.

While much of the initial $62 billion set aside for Covid-19 is yet to physically go out the door on infrastructure projects and the like, at least $3 billion is yet to be allocated.

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22 Comments

by Brock Landers | 16th Sep 21, 12:50pm 1631753400

Real estate agencies scrambling to line up for the handout.

by kpnuts | 16th Sep 21, 1:22pm 1631755360

wonder if they will use it this time for ICU beds or nurse training, ventilators -- planning for living with Covid -- or anything else covid related this time -- ? maybe a purpose built MIQ facility not in the highest population density locations yeah nah lets just fund pet projects instead!

by Zack Brando | 16th Sep 21, 11:31pm 1631791890

Very difficult to deprogram just ONE person from a lifetime of brainwashing. Usually you'd just give up and work on upcoming generations.

Thinking Kiwis take for granted their critical thinking abilities. Much of society just parrots various scripts, scripts coated in and reinforced by sugary fictions.

Many are so hopelessly dependent on the system they'll say and do anything to maintain it.

by Chris-M | 18th Sep 21, 10:54pm 1631962446

Anybody considering a nursing career is an absolute lunatic. They have been treated like dirt for decades and one only has to see the present treatment by the DHBs and Govt to see that this is getting significantly worse. If in the unlikely event that the govt does anything to address the problems, this will be rapidly reversed by any incoming right wing govt, so things will rapidly revert to the long term trend. If you have any love for anybody considering a nursing career, the greatest contribution that you can make to their life and future, is to talk them out of this path. We have 4 nurses in our family and every one would agree. Only one remains in the profession and is looking for the best ways to leave. The wider circle of nurses that we know would also hold these beliefs.

by Laywoman | 17th Sep 21, 6:29pm 1631860196

Wrong. Agreed, nursing right now sucks. My 3bedrm house is valued at 20 times my yearly full time salary and I'm not in akl.

But as I'm on shift right now, the hospital is hectic. When the govt accepts it can't stamp out delta they will have to manage it and that will mean hospitalisations. Which means nurses.

I'd put my kidney on us getting about 20 percent pay rise next month as pay equity settlement.

by Chris-M | 18th Sep 21, 1:55pm 1631930137

20% does even begin to address the problem. You would have to double your wage to get to even the the totally unacceptable house price to income multiple of 10. And for that you are still being stressed to the max and putting up with all the very negative effects of shift work. Remember the government gave the teachers 18.5% rise just as a normal settlement. How long is their working day, how many holidays a year do they get? Do they work weekend and night shifts?

by Theoracle | 17th Sep 21, 8:21pm 1631866872

Likewise teaching.

by HouseMouse | 16th Sep 21, 2:32pm 1631759560

Yeah nah. Why do something that directly and meaningfully addresses the 'war like crisis' we are in???

by AndrewRiddell5886 | 16th Sep 21, 1:53pm 1631757213

Use it to significantly increase support for beneficiaries, students, and low paid.

by GV 27 | 16th Sep 21, 3:01pm 1631761296

Unlikely given they sat on a benefit working group report for months saying precisely to do this well before there was ever a pandemic.

by Carlos67 | 16th Sep 21, 2:55pm 1631760944

In retrospect we should have just built more hospitals and employed hundreds of nurses and doctors it would have been cheaper than the lockdowns. The problem is its not all in retrospect, this isn't over yet so we should still have been spending the money on the healthcare system for the last 2 years. This is unlikely to be the last Pandemic either. What we have done is flush billions of dollars down the toilet that future generations are going to have to pay back.

by Poppyc | 17th Sep 21, 10:56am 1631832999

building a hospital takes a long time (isn't Dunedin 8 years?) as does employing a significant number of staff. that's all long term planning, and we cannot have any of that in govt!

by Dave Moderato | 16th Sep 21, 3:46pm 1631763985

The old NZ media, will come bounding. Hands eagerly outstretched. "Minister how high would you like us jump?"

by philthy | 17th Sep 21, 9:40am 1631828406

Lapdogs TVNZ and Stuff are all over it.

by treadlightly | 16th Sep 21, 4:51pm 1631767901

It is nonsensical to talk of the government as having a store of NZ Dollar Currency when it is the only legal source of these dollars and it creates new dollars each and every time that it spends. Only the private sector can store up the governments currency as its savings

Borrowing doesn't finance the government it drains reserves from the banking system that the governments spending has created and helps the Reserve Bank with its interest rate settings.

by Property_Wizard | 17th Sep 21, 5:31am 1631813475

Reckless and feckless

by fat pat | 17th Sep 21, 8:03am 1631822623

Equivalent to 781 tons of gold dumped into the Mariana Trench. Well-done Labour.

by Beanie | 17th Sep 21, 8:51am 1631825515

Or to visualize it another way....$100 notes are 1/10th of a mm thick.

So $62 billion is a stack of $100 notes 62km high. That is like 189 Sky Towers high.

by Beanie | 17th Sep 21, 8:50am 1631825442

by waymad | 17th Sep 21, 10:02am 1631829736

A billion here, a billion there. Pretty soon, it adds up to Real Munny.....

by hemihua | 17th Sep 21, 11:26am 1631834781

We'll have to start calling you 'weimar' by the time these lot are done with the printers. Brrrrr!

by Dezo | 17th Sep 21, 3:20pm 1631848842

more money printing = inflation, meaning harder for the kids to buy a house.