COVID-19 Relief is This Year’s Christmas Cheer

Prime Minister John Briceño chaired another cabinet meeting today where nine hundred and thirty thousand dollars was approved for a special December COVID-19 Relief Fund to be equitably distributed among all thirty-one constituencies. Minister of Human Development, Families and Indigenous Peoples’ Affairs, Dolores Balderamos Garcia, informed Cabinet that funds for the Food Assistance Program (FAP) were completely depleted prior to the general elections, leaving the program substantially out of funds for the remainder of the financial year.   Cabinet has also approved the allocation of resources necessary to fund the FAP for December and agreed that the Minister of Finance along with the Minister of Human Development will examine the possibility of additional funding for continuation of the Program.  Cabinet also greenlighted the constitution of an Economic Recovery Advisory Team to make recommendations to engineer sustainable economic activity, protect and create jobs, and successfully emerge from the current economic crisis stemming from the 2019 U.D.P. administration recession, the COVID-19 pandemic and weather-related shocks as well as the resulting collapse of the tourism and other sectors of the economy.