The Government of St Vincent and the Grenadines will continue to provide income support, for the next 6 months, to approximately 4 thousand families in the red, orange and yellow zones affected by the eruption of La Soufriere.
Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves noted that this is being done because the Government, through the Minister of Finance Hon. Camillo Gonsalves negotiated with the World Bank under the Volcano Eruption Emergency Programme, “we going to give a person in the household a bank card through the Bank of St Vincent and the Grenadines” . The money would be placed on the card and they can access the funds from there.
Dr Gonsalves said so far 1200 cards have already been prepared and are to be issued by the Bank of St. Vincent and the Grenadines to head of households and “before the end of this month, we will announce the commencement for the distribution of those cards”.
Dr Gonsalves mentioned that the list of recipients is currently being updated and finalized and “the money will vary in accordance to the size of the household…hopefully, we will start to be able to pay the money in July and make sure they get the money down to December”.
The Prime Minister said this sort of move is unprecedented anywhere else in the Caribbean. Dr Gonsalves was speaking on Star Radio’s “Morning Scoop” earlier today
Source: API