23,680 Unemployment Relief Payouts

Dean Barrow

The government is not discounting the possibility of a second wave of coronavirus.  With a soft reopening of the economy, the preservation of life and health remains a priority and as such Prime Minister Dean Barrow stressed the importance to maintain strict adherence to social distancing and personal hygiene. PM Barrow also gave an update on the unemployment relief and food assistance programme. According to the Prime Minister twenty-three thousand six hundred and eighty Belizeans have received payouts.

Prime Minister Dean Barrow

“The two key citizen support programmes, unemployment relief and food assistance, are proceeding apace. I thus record that as of this morning thirty-three thousand seven hundred and seventy one persons had been approved for the jobless benefits, with actual payouts to twenty-three thousand six hundred and eighty of them; and eight thousand and seventeen households of thirty-two thousand eight hundred and seventy one individuals have received grocery baskets. This is in addition to the households that get pantry under that preexisting, long-standing initiative. In light of all the advances we are steadily making, I wish to close on a note of confidence. I, therefore, restate my unshakable conviction that this fight against COVID-19 is one that we can win, one that we will win.”