Social security programmes to get over $500m after Hurricane Ivan'

PRIME MINISTER P.J. Patterson yesterday announced that Government will be doling out another $519 million through two social security programmes in a bid to assist citizens most exposed to the financial burdens created in the wake of Hurricane Ivan.

The Prime Minister revealed that Cabinet yesterday decided to pump a sum of $375 million into a special payment to all National Insurance Scheme (NIS) pensioners, a group which is generally faced with the arduous task of living off a limited Government-provided income. At the same time, citizens receiving benefits under the Programme of Advancement through Health and Education (PATH) will also receive an additional $144 million over the next two months.

QUALIFIERS TO GET $5,000 CHEQUE

NIS recipients, inclusive of old-age pensioners, widows and widowers, as well as invalid and disabled pensioners, number 75,000 and will each receive a cheque valued at $5,000. Consulting actuaries, the Prime Minister said, have advised that the fund will not be affected by the disbursement.

"We recognise that in preparing for the hurricane and its aftermath, NIS pensioners had to spend more than their regular monthly amounts," the Prime Minister told journalists during the regular post-Cabinet press briefing at Jamaica House.

The cheques, Mr. Patterson said, will be dispatched through the postal service and can be cashed at any branch of the National Commercial Bank (NCB). The pensioners, he added, will be advised of the payments through the media and via telephone where possible.

HOST OF BENEFITS

Since Hurricane Ivan lashed the island more than two weeks ago, the Prime Minister had already announced a host of benefits, including $200 million in aid to the agriculture sector and $400 million in recovery loans for National Housing Trust (NHT) borrowers. The NHT will also be providing private sector building societies with $1 billion to assist homeowners in need of repair funds.

"Whatever we seek to do must be targeted to the victims of the hurricane and for those at the poorest income level who desperately need some special assistance at a time like this," Mr. Patterson said.