$0.00 for Social Assistance;$0.00 for COVID-19 Food Assistance

0
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The People’s United Party administration this week completed the process of presenting the budget. We at The Guardian have been perusing some aspects of the budget that are critical at this point in time. One of the glaring figures that jumped at us on our review is at page 192.
Under the Ministry of Human Development, Families and Indigenous People’s Affairs, under capital III expenditure, there is literally an allocation of $0 for Social Assistance. There is also $0 allocated for COVID-19 Food Assistance.
It is noteworthy that these were the programs that were being called upon to support the Belizean people during the pandemic. The assistance channeled through these programs were integral in assisting families which had no income after losing their jobs as a result of the pandemic. There is now no such support structure with no allocation to these programs. A few weeks ago, Minister of Human Development, Dolores Balderamos Garcia stated that there is a 3 million dollar allocation to support the government’s grocery bag program, however we are yet to find this allocation in the budget estimates.