• Between $150 billion and $160 billion worth of home and business loans have been frozen, according to early APRA figures.
• The unpublished data, reported by the AFR, is understood to be preliminary but indicates the pressure being felt by both households and businesses during the government shutdown.
• The data appeared on the same day the National Cabinet is expected to announce further relaxations to existing restrictions.
• Visit Business Insider Australia’s homepage for more stories.

‘Team Australia’ has skipped out on servicing its loans amid an almighty squeeze on the economy.

Having been urged by Scott Morrison and Josh Frydenerg to get behind its customers during the economic downturn, banks appear to have heard the call, with APRA figures showing they have deferred between $150 billion and $160 billion in loan repayments, according to the AFR.

While Business Insider Australia understands the unreleased data is only preliminary and appears to have been leaked, it does suggest a sorry state of economic affairs.

In sum, it means that around one in 16 mortgagees and one in seven businesses aren’t repaying their bank right now. Among the former group no doubt will be some of the million-plus workers who have lost their jobs over the last couple of months. Among the latter, business owners of all stripes who have been forced to take an unexpected hiatus during Australia’s government-mandated economic hibernation.

One group it doesn’t speak for are those who owned neither a business nor a home in the first place. The casual workers, the young, many working across hard-hit industries like hospitality and the arts. Had homeownership been higher prior to the pandemic, these figures could be worse.

The deferrals be higher if it weren’t for the support measures in place. In total, more than 1.5 million Australians and climbing now rely on the government’s Jobseeker Allowance. More than 760,000 businesses meanwhile are enrolled to receive Jobkeeper wage subsidies for some five million employees. Despite those policies, the banks have made it clear in reporting their results in recent weeks they are expecting a sharp rise in bad loans anyway.

The figures set the foundation for the National Cabinet to meet on Friday to review the current restrictions and unveil a three-stage plan to reopen the country.

“[It will] prepare Australians to go back to work in a COVID-19 safe environment and getting the economy back to a more sustainable level,” Morrison said on Tuesday ahead of the review.

“This will be subject to strong epidemiology results, testing, tracing and local surge health response capacity. National Cabinet noted that some health measures will need to be in place for a considerable period of time including social distancing, strong hygiene and international travel restrictions.”

While it’ll be left to state governments’ discretion as to what is reopened and when the message from the Morrison government is pretty clear: open it up by July.

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