Back-to-school bailout for poor parents

FINANCE AND the Public Service Minister Dr Nigel Clarke says the next phase of the Government’s COVID-19 Allocation of Resources for Employees (CARE) Programme will target vulnerable parents who are struggling to finance back-to-school expenses for their children when the new academic year begins in September.

He told his parliamentary colleagues on Wednesday night that the economic effects of COVID-19 would not pass quickly, noting that jobs would not return overnight.

“We know that as children go back to school in September, they will face costs for uniforms, books, and other supplies that will be difficult to supply for the newly unemployed,” Clarke said in his contribution to debate on the First Supplementary Estimates of Expenditure.

The revised Budget of $838 billion, which is a 1.8 per cent cut from the original $853-billion Estimates of Expenditure, was passed by the House of Representatives on Wednesday night.

Clarke said that the Government would provide details, in a few weeks, on how any new phase of the CARE programme would work.

He explained that the administration was contemplating further interventions later this year and early next year.

A little more than $14 billion was earmarked for the entire CARE programmes.

Asked to give a breakdown of the spending during a meeting of the Standing Finance Committee of Parliament, Clarke said that the Government has so far advanced $4.2 billion, with approximately $3.7 billion disbursed under the Compassionate Grants Programme as at June 9, 2020. He said that the balance represents grants for small-business operators.

Clarke said that if all companies that applied for the Business Employee Support and Transfer of Cash (BEST Cash) Programme are approved for the benefit, the Government will pay out close to $2 billion.

Under the Supporting Employees with Transfer of Cash (SET Cash) Programme, the finance minister said that around 40,000 payments have been made to date.

An allocation of about $3.3 billion has been made to this programme that provides temporary cash transfers to individuals where it can be verified that they lost their jobs on or after March 10 this year.

In terms of the tourism grant to businesses in the sector, Clarke said that operators could get a grant of $5 million to help those businesses reopen.

He said that applications for this benefit have not yet been received, noting that a multi-stakeholder group comprising representatives from both the public and private sectors will review the applications and make recommendations for grants. Some $1.2 billion has been set aside for this exercise.