Following the Government declaring a drought in Northland and parts of Auckland, BNZ has officially announced its
drought assistance package for farmers affected by the driest start to the year on record in Northland and parts of
Auckland.
Dave Handley, BNZ GM Agribusiness, says, “These are challenging conditions for our Northland farmers. We want to support
them and alleviate some of the pressure brought on by the lack of rain.”
BNZ enacted its own Drought provisions on January 23, 2020 which include:Additional Temporary Overdraft approvals of up to $100,000Ability to defer Scheduled Principal Repayments
Handley says, “We’ve been working alongside our agri-customers in the region for some time to understand what we can do
to help them as conditions became more challenging.
“Temporary overdraft facilities and the ability to defer scheduled principle repayments should take some of the pressure
off farmers so they can concentrate on running their business and looking after their stock through this period of dry
weather.
“We welcome the government’s official declaration of a drought to unlock further support and we’ll continue to work with
our customers alongside these new provisions,” he says.
Handley says BNZ is proactively contacting its farmer customers to discuss support options and is encouraging all its
farmer customers to contact the bank if they have not heard from their BNZ partner yet.