The Honourable Prime Minister Dr. Roosevelt Skerrit took the airwaves on Sunday to announce the long awaited stimulus package for the country in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to the Prime Minister, “We are committing an additional 10 million EC dollars under the Contingency Emergency Response Component (CERC), of the Emergency Agriculture Livelihoods Project…To assist with meeting the cost of farm labour and other direct costs, cash grants have been approved to approximately 2,500 individual crop farmers. The amount of these grants is based on the size of the farmers holding. Farmers with small holdings will receive grants of EC$700, medium holdings EC$1,400 and large holdings EC$2,800. This intervention is valued at EC$3.5 million.
Further, “Government is expecting to sign a number of high-value contracts over the next few days, while many other projects will begin soon. We will also be implementing multiple infrastructure projects with expenditure of up to 100 million dollars,” the Prime Minister said.
Local contractors are encouraged to register on the Government’s website in order to be considered for employment.
Government will also pay small contractors and merchants with amounts owed of $100,000 and less in the coming days, utilizing the resources approved by the IMF under the Rapid Credit Facility (RCF).
Another measure put in place by the Government is that businesses( hoteliers, farmers, manufacturers) who benefited under a special loan facility at the Aid Bank after Hurricane Maria will be allowed to defer payments on the principal for a year and on interest payment for six months.
Also, “Heads of families and single persons who are currently no longer employed will receive income support in the amount of $600 and $400 respectively for the period April 2020 to June 2020 in the first instance”.
Funding in the amount of (EC$15.7 million) to the affected employees and self-employed will be provided by the Government of Dominica, but will be made available through the Dominica Social Security, given the administrative capacity that is already in place.
The Prime Minister said that further details on all of these measures will be given in the coming week.
