News
Deputy Premier Announces a Second Stimulus, costs $6.5 Million
By Deandrea Hamilton
#TurksandCaicos, January 28, 2022 – The nearly $7 Million dollars for a second Citizen’s Relief or general stimulus will come through the new budget supplementary, and the monies to make it happen is pulled, said Finance Minister E Jay Saunders, from the Contingency Fund, the property acquisition, the works programme and development finance.
These areas have been reduced to support the $500 cash to TCI citizens over 18 and eligible British Overseas Territory Citizens.
When we communicated the announcement from the House of Assembly on Thursday January 27, there were mixed reactions. Some are grateful to hear of the extra cash, others say the government needs offer more than $500, still more want the government to address long term issues like low wages and the high cost of living and others quipped that it was good for the government to give them money so they would be able to pay the coming increase in National Insurance.
Deputy Premier Saunders said the money will be in hand by March 11th.
One resident raised an interesting question about how the PNP Government actually views the economy. To the citizen who has years of executive experience in the TCI private sector and who pays astute attention to political happenings in the country, there appears to be dramatically conflicting messages from the PNP Administration.
On the one hand she reminds, Government is singing the praises of a booming economy thanks to real estate sales and tourism arrivals. In that same tone, the Government has approved the National Insurance Board for an increase in contributions because not only does the scheme need it in order to avoid collapse, but because they believe the contributors at this time can afford it. Then, she says, in a shocking twist, the government, through its minister of finance, rolls out a new stimulus package, which points not to a people who are living their best life but a people who are struggling to live just a meager existence.
She says the $500 stimulus to come from the Government points only to a country where the financial pain of people is so overwhelming that government has to step in with welfare assistance.
Her statement, turned then to a question: “I thought the country was booming?”
Nonetheless, many are grateful for the announcement. Delivery service by the Treasury Department will be available for the disabled or those confined to their homes, once again said the Finance Minister.
All other approved applicants, who must also be resident in Turks and Caicos, will apply through the portal and collect their cheques, it seems, in the same way the first $1,000 Citizen’s relief was rolled out in the first quarter of 2021.
This is the second budget supplementary of near one-year-old Washington Misick led PNP Administration; the rearrangement of monies was agreed said the DP to address “the urgent, critical, unforeseen priorities that have developed since the approval of the 1st supplementary estimates.”