Finance Minister Ibrahim Ameer says the government will issue income support to those financially affected by the COVID-19 pandemic until the end of the year.
Speaking at the parliament today, Finance Minister Ameer said that currently the government is working to issue the income support allowance until December of this year but it would be open to extending the issuance period if the need arises.
The government had issued MVR 96.4 million as an income support allowance this year to those individuals who have been affected financially due to the COVID-19 pandemic as many jobs had been jeopardized as a result of the global crisis.
The Finance Ministry had been releasing the income support allowance to those eligible for it since May 20th of this year through the National Social Protection Agency.
It had said that individuals would receive up to MVR 5000 as income support from the government.
The COVID-19 pandemic had brought the country’s main source of income, its tourism sector to a standstill for four months when the island nation closed its borders to prevent the spread of the pandemic.
Many were made redundant from their jobs in the following months especially from the tourism industry while others faced unfair no-pay leaves and unmerited pay cuts. With the tourism sector now slowly back on track after the country reopened its borders in mid-July, the economy is expected to pick up with the job market forecasted to also bounce back.
