Minister of Finance and Treasury, Ibrahim Ameer, has said that the government will continue to provide the COVID-19 Income Support Allowance until the end of December 2020.

He made the statement while responding to questions from the MPs at the Parliament sitting today. The Finance Minister said that if it comes to that, the allowance period would be extended beyond December.

Statistics from the Finance Ministry show that MVR 96.4 million have been released as Income Support Allowance as of 1 October.

Income Support Allowance program began on 20 May 2020 as part of the MVR 2.5 billion relief package to assist the economy. Over MVR 1 billion has been released from the package so far.

The regulations state that only those who either lost their jobs, had a significant pay cut, as well as those who were forced on no-pay leaves along with freelancers, will be eligible for the allowance. It also states that those who have been suspended and are on no-pay leave with receive an allowance of MVR 5,000. For those who had a pay cut, if their salary is below MVR 5000, the amount they receive now will be deducted from MVR 5,000 with the remainder being their allowance. In addition to this, freelancers with zero income will receive the MVR 5,000 allowance.

A research conducted by the Maldives National University said that five in ten Maldivians had their employment affected by COVID-19.