The death of Queen Elizabeth II was announced on Friday (NZT) and her funeral will be held at Westminster Abbey on Monday, September 19.
A period of national mourning started immediately after the Queen's death was announced and will continue until the date of the National Memorial Service, which is yet to be announced.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has said New Zealand's memorial service would be held at some point after the funeral in the UK - and turned its mind this afternoon to setting the date when it meets today as well as whether to have a public holiday.
A decision on the public holiday is expected to be announced around 3pm.
A one-off national public holiday has been confirmed in Australia on September 22. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese the move was "in honour of the life and service" of the late Queen and would coincide with a memorial service.
BusinessNZ chief executive Kirk Hope told RNZ's Morning Report businesses had already suffered losses from the pandemic and the government had to be careful when making a call that would impose more costs on local businesses.
"Certainly I don't think there's any problem with a memorial, I think there'll be a lot of people who will be wanting to attend that but to add another public holiday, as I said, at a time when many businesses have struggled is a bridge too far."
Even a half-day public holiday would still be costly for businesses, he said.
"We prefer not to have that."
King Charles has announced the day of the Queen's funeral - September 19 - would be a bank holiday in the UK.
