Government to provide $20m. in income and production support

THE GOVERNMENT will provide approximately 20 million dollars in income support for farmers, fisherfolk and persons in the hospitality industry who have been affected by the passage of Hurricane Beryl.

Presenting the Supplementary Estimates in the House of Assembly on Thursday July 18, 2024, Minister of Finance Camillo Gonsalves said $12 million have been allocated for income support to farmers and fishers while another $8 million in income support is allocated for people within the hospitality sector.

The Finance minister said with the Grenadines having six per cent of the hotel room stock in the country, “a lot of people in the Grenadines make their living off of tourism, and if the hotel is destroyed where they work, they are going to need a little something to hold it together…and most of that money will be concentrated in the Grenadines”.

In addition to this, there will be $5.5 million in production support for farmers, and $2 million in production support for fisherfolk.

“In addition to income support, there is money in this budget to buy back an engine if a fisherman…if they have lost their engine because it got flooded out or because the boat was battered and smashed and broken, there is money in this budget to get those fisherfolk back on their feet and to help farmers in the various farming communities in St Vincent and the Grenadines,” said minister Gonsalves. (API)