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Businesses brace for Coronavirus revenue impact

Businesses brace for Coronavirus revenue impact

(14 February 2020 – Australia) Australian corporates with Chinese operations expect the Coronavirus (COVID-19) contagion to slash Q1 revenues by 20 percent according to the Australian Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai.

Over one in two institutional enterprises surveyed by the Australian Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai (N = 100) expect revenues to slide by one fifth in the three months to March 2020. One in three expect a decrease of up to 15 percent including members such as the major banks, Rio Tinto, BHP, BlueScope and Treasury Wine Estates.

Australian small businesses financially impacted by the spread of the coronavirus are being encouraged by the Australian Banking Association (ABA) to contact their bank to access assistance which can include deferred loan payments, waiving fees and restructuring loans.

“Any small business should not tough it out on their own if they are financially impacted by the effects of the coronavirus” stated ABA CEO Anna Bligh.

“Thousands of businesses have had a horror start to the year with drought, bushfires and floods. Now the coronavirus having a severe impact on both their ability to create products and also export them to markets overseas. Banks have hardship teams in place to walk businesses through the assistance on offer if they have been impacted by events outside of their control” she said.

“Any business financially impacted by the effects of the coronavirus, such as tourism operators, growers and exporters of fresh produce and those reliant on international education should contact their bank to access the assistance on offer” she added.

The type of assistance offered will depend on individual circumstances but include:

A deferral of scheduled loan repayments
Waiving fees and charges
Interest free periods or no interest rate increases
Debt consolidation to help make repayments more manageable.

For details of Australian bank’s hardship directives small businesses are encouraged to visit https://www.ausbanking.org.au/campaigns/financial-hardship/

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