Coronavirus: Virus-hit businesses thrown lifeline

Westpac has announced a package of measures to help Australian businesses suffering from the coronavirus outbreak.

A masked woman cuts a lonely figure in Sydney’s China Town. Normally a hub of activity, it is more like a ghost town as restaurants report a downturn in business as a result of the coronavirus crisis. Picture: Tim Pascoe

Westpac has moved to help businesses hit by the coronavirus, announcing a package of measures including deferred loan repayments for up to three months, as the cost of the virus to the Australia economy rises.

The chief executive of Westpac’s business division, Guil Lima, said on Tuesday the effects of the outbreak were starting to be felt “across a wide and varied group of industries”.

He said there was no clear indication of when businesses might return to normal.

“This is an extremely difficult period for some Australian businesses,” he said.

“We want our customers in any affected sectors to know there’s a range of ways we are ready to support them.”

Westpac’s concessions include deferred business loan repayments for up to three months, the option to extend business loans by up to three months, deferred payments for business credit cards, assistance in restructuring and consolidating loans, and access to financial counselling.

Westpac says the measures, which are extending to businesses hit by the coronavirus similar terms and conditions as those extended to businesses hit by the drought and the bushfires, will operate for an initial period of three months.

Westpac’s move to help its customers in Australia follows similar concessions being made by HSBC and Standard Chartered to customers in Asia hit by the virus, particularly in China and Hong Kong.

The coronavirus outbreak has seen a suspension of some fresh food sales from Australia to China, including lobsters, and has had a direct impact on businesses such as restaurants, hotels, travel and retailers in Australia catering to the Chinese tourist market that has shut down due to the ban on tourists from China. The education industry has also been hit, with thousands of Chinese students due to return to their studies in Australia this month forced to remain at home in China.

Other Australian banks have said that business customers having financial problems as a result of the virus should contact the bank for access to financial hardship concessions.

“We know that some of our business customers have been impacted by the outbreak of coronavirus,” a spokesman for the Commonwealth Bank told The Australian.

“We are providing a number of support measures to help them get through these challenges.

“Any of our business customers who are experiencing difficulty as a result of the coronavirus are encouraged to contact their relationship manager or our dedicated Business Financial Assistance team on 13 26 07.”

Rabobank’s Australia-based head of food and agribusiness ­research, Tim Hunt, said the corona­virus would have a larger impact on the Australian food and agribusiness industries than the SARS outbreak in 2003.

He said Australia now sent 28 per cent of its food and agricultural exports to China, compared with only 8 per cent in 2002, before the start of SARS.

He said there were likely to be “first and second round impacts” of the coronavirus on the Australian agricultural sector, depending on how long the crisis lasted.