By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

Cabinet will likely decide today whether to further extend the Government-funded COVID-19 unemployment benefit that was due to expire at end-December 2021.

Myles Laroda, minister of state in the Prime Minister’s Office with responsibility for the National Insurance Board (NIB), told Tribune Business last night that the matter would probably discussed at today’s full Cabinet meeting although this was not definitive.

“That decision has not been made yet,” he said of an extension. “Cabinet will probably decide on that tomorrow [today]. I don’t control the agenda, but it’s something we have to do. It’s already January. It’s a decision that has to be made.”

Mr Laroda said the number of persons receiving the $100 weekly benefit had “significantly reduced” due to the Bahamian economy’s continued post-COVID re-opening, combined with the ongoing tourism rebound, which had seen the major hotels recall numerous previously-furloughed staff for the peak Christmas/New Year tourism season.

The Prime Minister, in late October, revealed that some 17,000 persons were still receiving the Government-financed COVID unemployment benefit when disclosing that all in that category would receive a $500 lump payment for Christmas 2021.

“That number has been reduced,” Mr Laroda said last night. “If I’m not mistaken, and I don’t want to quote the wrong figure, but it started at around 17,000 and the last time I checked it was around 9,000. But don’t hold me to that.

“There was a drop. Atlantis was at full speed and so was Baha Mar. A lot of those hotel workers were back on the job, so there was a significant reduction in that number.”

As at end-September 2021, the Government had paid-out $204.4m in COVID unemployment benefits. This was introduced to supplement the National Insurance Board (NIB) unemployment benefits, which last 13 weeks, given the pandemic’s protracted nature. NIB itself has paid out over $100m in its own unemployment