Gov’t announces $25,000 per household COVID-19 relief package

GOVERNMENT would be providing $25,000 per household as a relief due to the impact of COVID-19, President, Dr Irfaan Ali said on Monday.

The President made the announcement while addressing the Private Sector Commission’s Annual General Meeting, but did not go into details of the relief package.

President Ali less than two weeks ago had said that government is mobilising some US$60M from the World Bank, OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID), the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the Islamic Development Bank, in addition to a $4.5B package it had announced earlier to bolster the national response to COVID-19.

The President had noted that those sums were in addition to the US$1M grant received from the Government of India.

Those, he said, were outside of other bi-lateral support received and were in the process of being received.

The President then had said he spent the last few weeks consulting with many stakeholders, including the private sector, communities, trade union representatives, youths, and healthcare professionals, aimed at arriving at a national holistic plan that integrates every aspect in response to COVID-19.

“So what we have seen is the closure of small business enterprises, our economy declined about four per cent at mid-year, contraction in business by more than 20 to 70 per cent, the loss of jobs, reduced workforce, reduced operations and output due to the implementation of work rotation work schedules,” the President had noted.

Further, the head of state said the loss of income has led to starvation in many communities, something which is being addressed.

He had pointed out that a holistic plan was being looked at to tackle the pandemic, while also targeting measures that would create jobs, ensure the return of income, and improve spending in the economy, while keeping the population in good health.

The government, he had said was focused on delivering an all-encompassing plan that will hold health and safety paramount, while balancing the need to fortify the economic standing.

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