New Zealand Treasury, "COVID-19 Response and Recovery - What has been achieved?" (Internet Archive copy of Feb. 5, 2026)

Summary

A New Zealand Treasury page, COVID-19 Response and Recovery - What has been achieved?, last updated Thursday, 24 April 2025, on spending and results of the largest initiatives funded through the CRRF. Its table lists cumulative expenditure from 2019/20 to 2021/22, led by Business Support Subsidy COVID-19 at an actual 17,996 ($m). It reports that $18.0 billion in wage subsidies was paid between Mar 2020 and Dec 2021, and that the Small Business Cashflow Scheme paid $2.3 billion to more than 128,000 businesses. It also covers the Resurgence Support Payment, health spending of $2.7 billion, $1.7 billion on the vaccine strategy, and Jobs for Nature.

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COVID-19 Response and Recovery - What has been achieved?

A large portion of COVID-19 funding went to a handful of key initiatives. This page looks at expenditure and results of the largest initiatives funded through the CRRF.

COVID-19 Specific Appropriations

Funding for many of the most significant initiatives went into appropriations created for that initiative. The table below shows the cumulative expenditure incurred from 2019/20 to 2021/22 against appropriations related to the most significant initiatives.

Expenditure by COVID-19 specific appropriation

Appropriation Name | Actual $m
Business Support Subsidy COVID-19 | 17,996
COVID-19 Resurgence Support Payment | 2,912
National Response to COVID-19 Across the Health Sector | 2,705
Small Business Cashflow Scheme COVID-19 | 2,263
Implementing the COVID-19 Vaccine Strategy | 1,709
Isolation and Quarantine Management | 1,568
COVID-19 Support Payment | 1,307

Note the Wage Subsidy Scheme was funded through the Business Support Subsidy COVID-19 appropriation.

Initiatives to support Businesses and Individuals

- The Wage Subsidy Support Scheme (WSS) supported people to remain connected to their jobs during COVID-19 and helped mitigate potential lay-offs or reductions in hours resulting from the impact on business. Five wage subsidies were available between Mar 2020 and Dec 2021 and over this time $18.0 billion was paid across 1.76 million unique jobs in 2020, and 1.36 million unique jobs in 2021. More information about the WSS is available on the MSD website .
- The Small Business Cashflow Scheme (SBCS) supported small to medium businesses and organisations struggling with a loss of actual revenue due to COVID-19. Under this scheme $2.3 billion was paid to more than 128,000 businesses. More information on the SBCS is available on the IRD website .
- The Resurgence Support Payment (RSP) was paid to help support viable and ongoing businesses or organisations that had experienced a 30% drop in revenue over seven days, due to increased COVID-19 alert levels. Through this initiative $2.9 billion was paid to 231,000 eligible businesses (as at 20 January 2022). More information on the RSP is available on the IRD website .
- The COVID-19 Support Payment was paid to help support viable and ongoing businesses or organisations that experienced a 40% or more drop in revenue as a result COVID-19. Three support payments ran between February to April 2022 and paid $1.3 billion to 113,000 eligible businesses (as at 30 June 2022). More information on the COVID-19 Support Payment is available on the IRD website .

Initiatives to support the Health Response

The National Response to COVID-19 Across the Health Sector supported the on-going health system response to COVID-19 including community-based testing, laboratory services, PPE and supplies, contact tracing and COVID-19 technology solutions. It also continued targeted vaccination and testing activities, addressed capacity pressures, accelerated ongoing protection measures, and built provider resilience from increasing demand from rising infection rates. $2.7 billion was spent across these initiatives.

Vaccination was a key part of New Zealand’s strategic response to COVID-19. $1.7 billion was spent on Implementing the COVID-19 Vaccine Strategy which administered the purchase of COVID-19 vaccines and other therapeutics and supported the delivery of an immunisation programme for COVID-19 vaccines. More statistics about the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines are available on the Ministry of Health website .

Alongside this, $1.6 billion was spent to deliver Isolation and Quarantine services . At the peak of demand for these services, there were 32 different facilities in operation across New Zealand. These locations housed nearly 230,000 people as they returned to New Zealand from overseas, as well as caring for nearly 5,000 community cases. More information on the MIQ system can be found on the MBIE website .

Initiatives to support Economic Recovery

Infrastructure Reference Group Projects received funding to provide immediate stimulus to the New Zealand economy and reduce the impact of the pandemic. These were projects that could be underway within 12-months of receiving funding and that would have material employment benefits, as well as providing national or regional benefit . Projects varied across sectors including transport, the environment, and housing.

The Infrastructure Programme received $2.5 billion of funding from the CRRF which funded 221 different projects (note that the CRRF was not the only source of funding for these projects). The overall Project Value of these projects is $4.72 billion. More information is available on the Infrastructure Programme on the National Infrastructure Funding and Financing website .

Jobs for Nature is a $1.2 billion multi-year cross-agency programme aimed at providing employment opportunities, enduring environmental benefits, and supporting sustainable land use and the implementation of new regulatory requirements. Jobs for Nature has approved 469 projects with 11,495 people employed so far. More information, including the projects funded, most recent employment and environmental outputs reported, is available on the Jobs for Nature website .

Last updated

Thursday, 24 April 2025

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