Christmas pay-day for central government employees is December 16. “So be careful with spending, January 2022 is going to be a long month,” the government said in a statement.

Meanwhile, support for the most vulnerable will be distributed through various programmes.

Under the Ministry of Social Development the following payments will be made:

• Payment of a cash transfer of $800 per household to 3,247 World Food Programme (WPF) household beneficiaries, as a transition from the existing WPF programme to the Soufriere Transitioning Grant for December 2021.

• This one-time cash payment covers payments for November and December 2021 ($400 per month per household).

• Payment of one-time cash payment, similar to the above, for 171 households in the red and orange zones from the WPF programme but they were unreachable during the registration and assessment process.

The following is income support for different categories of persons affected by the volcanic eruptions:  

• 221 small business owners in the red and orange zones: One-time cash transfers of $1,200 ($400 for each of the months of October to December 2021). This cash transfer will be done in two tranches: $800 before Christmas 2021 and $400 at the end of January 2022.

• 91 Tourism site vendors: A one-time cash transfer of $900 ($300 for each month of October to December 2021) paid in two tranches: $600 before Christmas; $300 in January 2022).

• 490 school vendors: A one-time cash payment of $600 ($300 for each month November to December 202) paid in two tranches: $400 before Christmas; $200 in January.

• The government says in total the cost of this support is just over $3.3 million to 4, 220 beneficiary families.

There is also a huge pre-Christmas distribution of food packages through community groups and churches, particularly but exclusively in red and orange zones.

The State has also listed income support of $1,000 to farmers (Belle Isle to Richmond and Mt Grenan to Fancy) for the months of November and December ($500 for each month) as follows:

• Chateaubelair District- 637 farmers- $637,000

• Troumaca District- 888 farmers- $888,000

• Georgetown (including North of the Dry River)- 2,164 farmers- $2,164,000.

This represents in total, a payout of $3,689,000 to 3,689 farmers.

Additionally, BRAGSA is carrying out a $3 million road cleaning programme for Christmas 2021. Over, 5000 people are employed on this nationally.

In total, these programmes amount to some $10 million to some 13,000 beneficiaries. The government notes there are other ongoing support programmes, inclusive of the normal safety net supports, which are assisting many more thousands of perso