 |
 |
|
  
|
Published Monday, April 27,
2020
Approved
$650 million-plusadditional budget for government By the A.M. Costa Rica staff With 49 votes in for and one against, the deputies of the Congress approved the additional budget of $651,558,798 to be used in payment of the deficit and to cover expenses caused by the economic crisis due to the covid-19. According to Congress, this additional budget of $513,301,199 is a loan from the Venezuela-based Development Bank of Latin America, CAF. The rest of the budget of $138,257,599 was the summary of the budget from other public institutions that had not yet been used, which belong to the Government. The extra budget of $381,400,272 will be used to pay the government debt. The rest of approximately $270,158,526 will be transferred to the relief fund for families affected by the pandemic, said the Congress in its statement. Since April 9 the popular Bono Proteger has had 438,679 people apply for the benefit. However, the government announced that only 7.5% of applicants will get monetary aid. Bono Proteger is a monetary aid for people affected at their place of employment by the suspension of commercial operations imposed by the government as part of the precautionary measures to contain the expansion of covid-19. The financial support package can be requested at proteger.go.cr, a web platform created for citizens and residents to request financial help from the government due to the covid-19 emergency. According to the government statement, 33,000 people have been selected, an equivalent to 7.5% of the total number of people who applied for the aid. According to the statistics provided by the ministry, of the 438,679 total applications for the extra financial help, 226,483 are men and 212,196 are women. Applications have been generated from all 7 provinces of the country. The majority, 153,300, applied from the San José province. The 7.5% selected, approximately 33,000 people, will receive the financial support package, as part of a fund of ₡16 billion colones or $28,270,432, during the first phase of this aid program. According to the statistics provided by the government, after this financial aid was announced by President Carlos Alvarado, the site Proteger received a total of 1,726,953 visits. The government allocated ₡296 billion colones, approximately $523,002,992 to grant subsidies of between ₡62,500 and ₡125,000 colones or between $110 to $220 for laid-off workers and those whose working hours were reduced or contracts suspended, due to the coronavirus emergency. The monetary aid will be paid to the beneficiaries for three months. ------------------------ Is the government in your country offering some sort of financial support package to those unemployed as a result of the pandemic? We would like to know your thoughts on this story. Send your comments to news@amcostarica.com |
