Ministry of Finance says it has released income support worth MVR 18.1 million to those financially affected by the COVID-19 crisis in the Maldives.
It said that up until the 16th of this month, it had issued the income support to 4525 individuals who had been fired from their jobs or forced to take no pay leaves.
The government had announced the income support as part of the MVR 2.5 billion-relief package to stabilize the economy after the losses sustained due to the COVID-19 crisis.
Recently, the World Bank backed the government’s efforts to provide income support with a loan of USD 12.8 million.
The National Social Protection Agency began releasing the income support to those financially affected by the pandemic on May 20th with each individual provided a stipend of up to MVR 5000 per month.
Most of those affected by the COVID-19 crisis work in the tourism sector, which was brought to a grinding, halt in March after the country closed its borders due to the pandemic.
But with the country re-opening its borders on the 15th of this month, business is expected to flourish and the government had called on resorts to reinstate local employees they had laid off due to the economic challenges.
