Government had allocated almost $30 million in public funds by the end of May to help fight COVID-19.
The funds have been used to boost healthcare capacity and to assist those whose businesses have been impacted by the closure of the islands’ borders to tourists, and the temporary shutdown of the domestic economy.
Further funds continue to be allocated as the crisis continues. For example, government announced this week it would be offering a $1,000 monthly stipend for the next three months to unemployed Caymanians in the tourism sector. If all 2,700 applicants are approved that payout would cost $8.1 million.
The figures below, provided by the Ministry of Finance, represent the main components of the funding allocated by the end of May.
$3.7 million:
COVID-19 test kits (a private donor covered half of this cost).
$1.4 million:
Combined cost of personal protective equipment and the expense of running isolation facilities for quarantined individuals at empty hotels.
$3.9 million:
Financial assistance to those in need. Includes additional funds to the Needs Assessment Unit and one-off payments to seamen and veterans.
$8.9 million:
Additional funding to the Health Services Authority for masks, gowns and other protective equipment and to cover cost of supplies, staff and new equipment, and the expense of episodic testing programmes.
$9.5 million:
The total amount allocated for grant funding for small and micro-businesses. The figure reflects the amount approved by Cabinet. Not all of that money has been used as yet.
$400,000
Government’s contribution to the cost of establishing a 60-bed emergency field hospital at the Family Life Centre.
- Figures from the Ministry of Finance
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