Government is considering increasing its stipend for out-of-work tourism-sector employees, Finance Minister Roy McTaggart has confirmed.
The monthly stipend was initially $600 and later increased to $1,000.
McTaggart, speaking on the 13 Jan. episode of the Cayman Compass talk show The Resh Hour, said government is looking at boosting that figure further after pleas from affected workers. “We have received a lot of representation over the Christmas holidays with regard to the level of the stipend,” McTaggart said.
“Some of the things that… people are telling us is they are welcoming it, they thank government for it, but with the continuing [border] closure, this thing is just continuing longer than anyone anticipated. They’re now facing making some really harsh decisions. Do I pay my rent this month or do I put food on my table?”
He said he hoped that government will be able to say more on the issue soon, but noted that a formal decision had not been made on the increase or its amount.
In December, government extended the stipend to June 2021. Tourism Minister Moses Kirkconnell, in a statement in Parliament in December, said that, since last March, government had spent $15.6 million on tourism stipends for almost 2,900 workers to help tide them over until tourists can return to local shores.
McTaggart said that Cayman’s finances had performed “remarkably better than any of us could have anticipated”, and he expected that performance to continue.
The minister acknowledged that the decision to close borders led to significant hardship, but he said it was a necessary step.
“That was probably one of the darkest days of my political career, having to make a decision like that because there was so much unknown… I don’t think countries had [ever]… actually shut down any economy and shut down businesses countrywide. It was extremely hard. It was excruciating,” he said.
“That was probably one of the darkest days of my political career”
However, McTaggart added, despite the criticism, “history has proven the decisions that we made were the right ones, and I’m so grateful for that”.
The country, he said, “is so much better than what we see even in those countries around us who took risks and are now paying a price for taking those risks, and we were criticised”.
Pointing to current government finances, McTaggart said there was enough cash to keep operations going for the next few months without having to borrow money.
A $330 million-plus line of credit from local banks, which has been secured by government if needed, expires in mid-2022.
McTaggart said he is hopeful that if things go well and Cayman’s borders reopen in March, there may be no need to draw down on the line of credit, which “would be an incredible outcome for the country as a whole”.
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