Boost to Indigenous Businesses and Communities – COVID -19

Posted: April 15th, 2020

 

The Australian Government is making $123 million available over two financial years to support Indigenous businesses and communities who are impacted by COVID-19.

Through Indigenous Business Australia (IBA) and the National Indigenous Australians Agency (NIAA) a new support package of up to $50 million has been developed for Indigenous businesses affected by the crisis.

The new support package also includes:

  • Access to specialist advice such as a rapid assessment of business positioning, cash-flow management and assistance to access available stimulus measures.
  • Where an Indigenous business is not eligible for other government stimulus packages, it can apply for working capital assistance of up to $100,000 via a loan/grant package (assessed on a needs basis), which will consist of:
    • A grant of up to 50% of the package amount;
    • For the loan component, up to 36 months loan term, zero repayments for the first 12 months, and preferential interest rates thereafter.

These measures follow earlier COVID-19 relief announced by IBA for both its customers and non-IBA customers that include a waiver of interest and deferral of loan repayments for business loan and equipment leasing customers for an initial 4-month period, a reduction in interest rates for all IBA home loan customers for an initial period of 6 months, as well as deferral of repayments for home loan customers in hardship.

Read the full IBA media release here