Updates on the Economic Stimulus Package (ESP) will be made known this week by the ESP Committee.

Secretary to Prime Minister (SPM), Dr. Jimmie Rodgers made the comments during the Oversight Committee’s weekly radio talkback show on Sunday.

The ESP Committee is under pressure from the public to reveal the list of the recipients of the ESP, this was after an initial list was leaked to social media groups drawing widespread criticisms.

But speaking at the talkback show, Dr. Rodgers says members of the responsible committee will update the public over the course of this week.

“There will be updates throughout the week, where the committee responsible will put out updates for the general public on the progress of the economic stimulus package”, Rodgers says.

Representatives of the ESP committee were not in the recent talkback show.

Prime Minister, Manasseh Sogavare, stated during the launching of the $US37.5 million economic stimulus package that this was an “initial response to the negative impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic on the Solomon Islands' economy and society.”

"It is more sensible to prevent people losing their jobs now rather than trying to get them back into work once the pandemic has receded," Mr Sogavare said.
The package is divided into five parts:

  1. Soft Measures (dealing with the crisis)
  2. Immediate Recovery 1(investing in productive and resource sectors)
  3. Immediate Recovery 2 (equity injection into public and public/private companies)
  4. Medium Term Support (Focus on support to stimulate and build the capacity of the economy to develop and grow)
  5. Medium to Long-term Measures (donor funded development projects)

Some of the standout features of the package included a five-year tax holiday for tourism operators in the country, loan holidays and $US8.5 million worth of subsidies for copra and cocoa export products.

There's also $US9.1 million in grants and concessional loans for large private companies to go along with equity injection into public and public/private companies, and the ramping up of donor funded infrastructure projects in the country with an emphasis on employing local workers.

With Radio New Zealand