GYD$25,000 per household COVID-19 relief- President Ali

Last Updated on Monday, 31 August 2020, 21:57 by Denis Chabrol

President Dr. Irfaan Ali

President Irfaan Ali on Monday announced that government would be providing a GYD$25,000 in relief to each household due to the adverse impact of the coronavirus, COVID-19.

In an address to the Annual General Meeting of the Private Sector Commission, he said in addition to the disbursement of funds to the health and education sectors, the household assistance would be provided. “We are working on a household intervention of about $25,000 per household,” Dr. Ali said.

It is unclear whether the aid would be in cash or kind, how often this will be provided and whether all or affected households will be getting assistance.

Details about this assistance package were sketchy, but the President praised the European Union, United Kingdom, and United States for assisting Guyana. “Everybody has been helping. I want to thank them sincerely. They are breaking down the barriers and they are trying to get us access to resources as quickly as possible,” the President said.

Thousands of Guyanese have either been laid off due to the closure or scaling back of many businesses, while others have been forced to cut salaries in order to retain staff.

Days after assuming the Presidency, Dr. Ali announced that government was seeking a total of US$60 million in assistance to help respond to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Earlier Monday, Minister of Human Services and Social Security Dr. Vindhya Persaud announced that under a Child Care Assistance programme, the government would be providing packages for essential workers ranging from health care workers, police officers, fire officers, prison officers, army members, and security officials.

Dr. Persaud said direct payment would be made to licensed child care facilities for disbursement to parents of children who are younger than seven years.