A-G: In-depth on $360 Help
Attorney-General and Minister for Economy Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum on Friday announced details of the second phase of $360 Government assistance.
He announced:
Applications for the second round of $360 assistance will open at 9am on Monday 11 October, 2021 and will close at 5pm on Friday 15 October, 2021. This gives affected Fijians 5 full days to apply.
The $360 payments will be made in early November in time for Diwali and Christmas, and will cover three month period from November to January.
Only those who have received both doses of the vaccine by 31 October can qualify for the assistance. Some may not have received the second dose at the time of application (11-15 October), but they can still apply; however, they will need to get vaccinated by 31 October and provide evidence of it.
Applications with incorrect details (incorrect TIN, BRN, FNPF number) will be disqualified and Government will not accept changes afterwards. So, please ensure to provide your correct details.
“In the last round, we had given leeway to allow applicants to change their details after applying, since most people were not familiar with the application process. However; this will not be considered moving forward.”
Applications made using post pay phone numbers will not be accepted. This is because payments to digital wallets are not possible for post pay numbers. People will need to apply using a pre-paid SIM registered under their own name. If the current SIM that they are using is not registered under their name, they cannot use it to apply.
“In the first round of the $360 assistance, we allowed people to apply on behalf of their relatives using phones registered to another name.”
For example, a person could use their own phone to apply for the assistance on behalf of their elderly grandmother. In this next round, that will no longer be accepted. If you want to apply on behalf of your grandmother, the SIM must be registered under her name, not yours. Vodafone SIMs are currently available free of charge until the end of this month, with no minimum top up required. Digicel SIMs are also free of charge, but you need a minimum top up of $10 to activate the SIM card. So you still have time to get a new SIM or amend your registration details at little to no cost.
“Again, we encourage people to use this money wisely and responsibly. In addition, you do not need to line up at Vodafone or Digicel outlets or any of the commercial banks to withdraw your funds in cash. It’s actually much safer and more convenient to make purchases or pay bills digitally using M-PAiSA or MyCash by scanning the QR codes, and we encourage you all to do so.”
To date, Government has provided $343.0 million in direct cash assistance to affected Fijians, including $205.0 million in top-ups for the FNPF COVID-19 unemployment assistance, $10.6 million for the $90 cash assistance, $21.4 million for both rounds of the $50 cash assistance and $106.0 million for the first round of the $360 cash assistance. These programs have helped to support roughly 300,000 Fijians throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The immense volume of data collected through these programs will enable us to build accurate poverty profiles for affected Fijians according to their age, gender, location, occupation, etc. These profiles can then serve as the foundation for rapid, targeted assistance for future crises such as natural disasters.”