The Cabinet, chaired by the Prime Minister Hon. John Briceño, met remotely in regular session on Tuesday, December 8th, 2020.• Cabinet approved $930,000 for a special December COVID-19 Relief Fund to be equitably distributed among 31 constituencies to assist disadvantaged Belizeans. The Hon. Dolores Balderamos Garcia, Minister of Human Development, Families and Indigenous Peoples’ Affairs, informed Cabinet that funds for the Food Assistance Program (FAP) were completely depleted prior to the general elections leaving the Program substantially out of funds for the remainder of the financial year.
Additionally, Cabinet approved allocation of resources necessary to fund the FAP for December and agreed that the Minister of Finance along with the Minister of Human Development will examine the possibility of additional funding for continuation of the Program.
• The establishment of a Diaspora Relations Unit under the Ministry of Tourism and Diaspora Relations was approved by Cabinet to develop, engage, and strengthen the linkages between the Government and Belizeans living abroad.
• Cabinet established a subcommittee to review Government’s options in connection with employment contracts of the past administration’s political appointees.
• Cabinet approved the constitution of an Economic Recovery Advisory Team to make recommendations to engineer sustainable economic activity, protect and create jobs, and successfully emerge from the current economic crisis stemming from the 2019 UDP administration recession, the COVID-19 pandemic and weather-related shocks as well as the resulting collapse of the tourism and other sectors of the economy.
