85,842 receive cash grants, $8.5B distributed, says Finance Ministry

A total of 85,842 people have received cash grants, with more than $8.5 billion distributed, the Ministry of Finance said in a statement.

The payments form part of a two-phase initiative, beginning on March 19 with the disbursement of $4.9 billion to 48,858 central government employees, including public servants, teachers and members of the disciplined services.

The government launched the second phase on March 26, introducing an online portal for citizens to self-register for the grants.
On March 30, a first batch of 13,168 verified applicants received payments directly into their bank accounts, bringing the total number of beneficiaries at that stage to 62,026 and total disbursements to $6.2 billion.

A second batch of 23,816 verified applicants began receiving payments on April 1, raising the total number of recipients to 85,842 and the overall distribution to more than $8.5 billion.
As of April 1, a further 25,879 applicants were at various stages of the registration process.