Malé, Maldives – The Maldivian government has given out MVR 359.1 million as income support allowance in order to provide financial support to the people whose jobs have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic this year.
According to the statistics released by Finance Ministry, income support allowance was disbursed to 20,768 applicants as of March 18. The MVR 5,000 income support allowance is disbursed through National Social Protection Agency (NSPA).
Those whose jobs have been terminated or put on no-pay leave or lost their source of income are to receive the full MVR 5,000, while those who have been subjected to pay or income reductions, resulting in them earning lower than MVR 5,000, will receive the difference.
While only those whose income were effected from March onwards were initially eligible for the allowance, the criteria for eligibility for the allowance was later expanded to allow people whose income have been affected due to the COVID-19 pandemic as far back as December 2019, instead of March 2020, to seek income support.
Information on applicants granted income support, as well as information on rejected applications and the reasons, are available through the JobCenter portal.
