Trinidad and Tobago to increase social support for vulnerable groups with IDB help

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad – The Government of Trinidad and Tobago signed a loan agreement with the Inter-American Development Bank to fund a program for people most affected by the Covid-19 crisis in Trinidad and Tobago.  

The US$24.5 million dollar will help ensure basic quality of life standards for vulnerable persons are maintained in the immediate period and during the economic recovery of Trinidad and Tobago.

The program will finance two components:

- The expansion or additional/emergency cash transfers to beneficiaries of three existing programs delivered by the Ministry of Social Development and Family Services (MSDFS): Food Support Program; Senior Citizen Pension; and Disability Assistance Grant and

- The temporary expansion of the Food Support Programme for households where a member of the household working in the informal sector experienced a loss in income due to the COVID-19 crisis.

This project will benefit households and individuals belonging to the most vulnerable groups in the country including over 25,000 existing beneficiary households of the Food Support Program in which women are expected to represent about 60% of the beneficiaries; 20,500 households with school-age children who received the School Nutrition Program prior to the COVID-19 emergency; 2,000 low-income persons aged 65 and over; 500 adults 18-65 years of age who are permanently disabled from earning a livelihood; 39,233 households with persons who have suffered involuntary termination, suspension, or loss of income in the informal sector.

The loan agreement was signed by Senator The Honorable Allyson West acting Minister of Planning and Development on behalf of Trinidad and Tobago and President Maurico Claver-Carone of the Inter-American Development Bank.

Trinidad and Tobago was the first Caribbean country to join the IDB in 1967 and maintains a rich partnership with the Bank over the last 54 years.