The budget does not do enough for small businesses, groups including Canberra's Business Chamber, the Master's Builders Association and the CPA have claimed.

The ACT government has budgeted for over $290 million in COVID-19 business support grants, a program jointly funded with the Commonwealth government, and $5 billion in infrastructure spending.

There will also be $46.5 million for the small business hardship scheme, which provides up to $10,000 in financial support to businesses significantly affected by the pandemic, as well as grants of up to $25,000 and other measures to support the tourism industry.

However, there is no extra business support in the budget beyond the 2021-22 financial year.

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CPA Australia's external affairs general manager Dr Jane Rennie said the ACT could be facing an "economic winter".

"Although the reopening is likely to deliver an initial bounce, local businesses may face a lean summer quarter if Canberrans make their traditional exodus from the capital," she said.

"Tellingly, the budget speech only mentions business twice, in the context of existing supports, and doesn't specifically mention small business.

"There's a sense that an economic winter is coming, but the ACT government isn't prepared to pack away its sunscreen and get out the winter woollies.

"Now the government has delivered a 'business-lite' budget, especially when it comes to small business recovery."

The plan to revive the economy relies on consumer spending, Dr Rennie said.

Business Chamber chief executive Graham Catt said Canberra had 30,000 private businesses, making up 60 per cent of the territory's jobs.

Mr Catt wants local businesses to be prioritised for tenders and grants to support large infrastructure projects, such as light rail stage 2.

"We will be missing out on the benefits if the government funds out-of-town businesses to do this work. Let's support the investment with policies mandating local procurement," he said.

"This could be followed by an economic winter if the federal government begins the process of fiscal consolidation in 2022. Although the private sector is the territory's biggest employer, a significant proportion of its activities support the public sector."

Canberra Liberals leader Elizabeth Lee said the infrastructure pipeline was only a 4 per cent increase on what was promised last year.

"All the government has done is simply add an extra year to the estimates to make it look bigger and better on a four-year basis," she said.

"There has been a chronic underfunding of skills and training in the ACT, and in this budget there is no material commitment to improving and boosting skills and apprenticeships to deliver on these infrastructure projects.

The Master Builder's Association also said the ACT was not investing in skilled workers to provide employment through the planned major projects.

"Spending on infrastructure is a strategic and sensible investment by the ACT government, but without the necessary skilled workers to build these projects they are destined to remain plans on a shelf," Master Builders ACT chief executive Michael Hopkins said.

"Without a significant investment in skills and apprenticeships, a competitive advantage is being given to large interstate and multinational contractors, who will simply import skilled workers to complete large projects.

"For every $1 invested in building and construction, $3 of economic benefit is generated - but if the $5 billion worth of infrastructure projects are not built by local companies, employing local workers and apprentices, the full economic benefit for the ACT will be lost."

Mr Hopkins said the ACT was still funding apprenticeships for high-demand careers like carpentry and plumbing at the lowest level in Australia.

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