NSW Treasury will support the immediate payment of all current suppliers in advance of the contracted payment terms as part of its Faster Payments scheme releasing $750 million into the NSW economy in the next week.
Suppliers to benefit will include a range of small to medium businesses from catering and cleaning companies, medical supply companies, local regional suppliers and community service groups.
Treasurer Dominic Perrottet said the Faster Payments scheme would see hundreds of millions of dollars paid to businesses and provide a critical boost to small businesses who were dependent on steady cash flows to keep afloat.
“Paying suppliers and contractors as quickly as possible means money flows through to businesses, allowing them to hold on to their staff,” Mr Perrottet said.
“Using this scheme we could get more than $200 million out the door to key suppliers to the Department of Education in as little as three days. This is making sure we put money in the hands of businesses fast when they may be struggling with other regular sources of income.”
Finance and Small Business Minister Damien Tudehope said the nature of small businesses meant many operators needed to have money coming in the door on a weekly basis to pay their own suppliers, staff and bills.
“Small businesses are the lifeblood of many communities from the city to the bush and have been hit particularly hard by the COVID-19 outbreak,” Mr Tudehope said.
“We are doing our bit to help them through this crisis and I urge the broader business community to follow suit, where possible, to ensure more companies and organisations stay in business during these tough times.”
To accelerate payments:
- NSW Treasury is working with all government agencies to ensure immediate payment of all correctly rendered invoices from government suppliers where they have a matched Payment Order and where goods have been received, irrespective of current contracted payment terms
- this will release in the order of $750 million in working capital to the NSW economy in the next week.