Prime Minister John Key today unveiled the Government's small-business relief package to help lighten the load on the small and medium-sized businesses which employ many New Zealanders.

The package has five parts: a suite of 11 tax changes costing $480 million, an expansion to the export credit scheme, extended jurisdiction for the Disputes Tribunal, expansion of business advice services, and a prompt-payment requirement for government agencies. 

"The tax changes will cost $480 million over the next four years. That means nearly half a billion dollars of benefit to New Zealand businesses.

"The package as a whole is aimed at urgently improving the business environment by reducing the impact of taxes on firms' cashflows, improving firms' access to credit, and reducing business compliance costs.

"I want to lighten the load on small and medium-sized businesses.  Improving the environment for business, and therefore jobs and growth, is a long-term undertaking for this Government.

"That task has become even more pressing thanks to New Zealand's current economic predicament.

"The package I'm announcing today is part of the Government's Jobs and Growth Plan, and there is more to come as part of that plan.

"The plan is all about keeping the economy running as strongly as possible, easing the sharpest impacts of the recession and preparing our economy for future growth."