GUYANA will contribute US$50,000 in cash to Haiti to help that country cope with the aftermath of Hurricane Matthew, Finance Minister Winston Jordan confirmed Wednesday evening.The storm, the strongest since 2007, killed approximately 1,000 people in the impoverished country.

The Finance Minister said that the money to help Haiti will have to be approved by the National Assembly and then it will be delivered to Haiti.

The opposition PPP had said it fully supported “the expressed intention of the Guyana Government to offer support to Haiti, which will aid humanitarian relief efforts, as well as longer-term relief and recovery operations.”

The PPP said it stood in support of the Haitian people and government.

Minister of Foreign Affairs, Carl Greenidge had told reporters that assistance to Haiti was discussed at Tuesday’s Cabinet meeting and it was decided that cash was best suited for the hurricane-ravaged country.

“What we discussed [at Cabinet]…is that when a country like Haiti is so often and badly devastated, the normal material resources which we can provide them…can prove a challenge.”

The minister explained that packing a ship with food supplies and other necessities is good but when the ship reaches Port- au -Prince, Haiti it may prove exceedingly difficult to get the supplies to the most affected areas because of roads being completely destroyed and the like.

“What we will do in order to react more quickly is to provide some cash in the first instance. We are not in a position to deliver [supplies] into Haiti in a hurry at this point—if there are some things they need it may be easier for them to buy—or get other countries to provide helicopters to move the stuff quickly…the other element would likely to take long,” said Greenidge.

He said that Guyana’s contribution may not be massive for Haiti, but noted that “it is not the size that matters…if you deliver that at a critical place it may help people and save lives.”

Southwestern Haiti was smashed by the Category 4 hurricane on Oct. 4, last which barrelled through the southern coast of the poor island nation, killing some 1,000 people and displacing hundreds of thousands.

The storm has most acutely hit farmers in southern rural areas, six years after a 7.0-magnitude earthquake levelled much of the nation’s capital Port-au-Prince, where reconstruction is still ongoing and disillusionment about the involvement of the international community in the rebuilding still runs high.

Haitian interim President, Jocelerme Privert on Tuesday played down the international aid response to Hurricane Matthew, saying some promised foreign aid had yet to materialise and that the devastated country was mostly funding its own recovery.

Privert said the Haitian government had managed and steered aid to the proper channels and had opened up accessibility to many areas that had been cut off after the storm because of flooding, landslides, downed trees and debris.

“Many countries have promised us aid – some support in kind, but others have made promises that have not yet materialised,” Privert was quoted by the Reuters news agency as saying.