An look into the initial impact of Covid-19 on small businesses

Xero has released its Small Business Insights, showing a 10 percent fall in year-on-year revenue in March - then a 34 percent drop in April.

New Zealand and Pacific Islands director Craig Hudson says revenue began to fall after New Zealand's first confirmed Covid-19 case.

He says a four percent drop in small business jobs was surprising because of how quickly the wage subsidy scheme was introduced.

Hudson says that equates to about 24-thousand jobs - and they went quite early in the process.