Ministry of Finance has revealed over USD 90 million was spent last year to assist individuals and businesses affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The government had introduced multiple schemes and packages to assist individuals and businesses negatively impacted by the pandemic. As such, the finance ministry revealed 90.8 million US dollars were disbursed through relief loans, income support allowance and subsidies for utilities.
The government introduced a monthly income support allowance of USD 323 for individuals who lost their jobs or were forced to take no-pay leaves due to the COVID-19 pandemic. A total of USD 14.3 million was disbursed to 17,147 people as income support allowance by the end of 2020.
The government had also subsidized over USD 660,000 from water bills of 46,392 households last year. Meanwhile, USD 3.1 million was subsidized from electricity bills of 98,722 households.
The government also introduced an economic relief package to prevent local businesses from going bankrupt amid the COVID-19 pandemic. While loans for large businesses were issued by the Bank of Maldives (BML), loans for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and freelance workers were issued by SME Finance Development Corporation (SDFC). BML issued USD 37.5 million as relief loans to large businesses, while SDFC issued USD 22.4 million as relief loans to SMEs and freelance workers.