Covid-19 Budget

It is the second supplementary budget in less than three months after the first supplementary budget for the current financial year was approved in January.

Over half of the second supplementary budget is funded by donor partners.

As expected, the Ministry of Health gets the bulk of the proposed stimulus funding with a $US7.2 million.

This will go towards awareness programmes for the prevention of Covid-19 as well as building negative pressure buildings for any coronavirus patients and for the building of special wards and quarantine centres.

Thousands of Fijians have been sent home or put on reduced pay.

The director of Pacific Destinations, James Sowane, has warned of the social cost to the nation.

He said the worst-case scenario was when mums and dads were at home when the bailiff arrived to repossess their goods.

Then there were those with mortgages, he said, who could lose their homes.

Mr Sowane said when parents could not feed their family or keep their home, they would be forced to make some very difficult decisions.