SUVA, April 7 (Xinhua) -- Samoa's parliament passed on Tuesday a 66.3 million tala (about 23 million U.S. dollars) stimulus package to help the island nation fight the COVID-19.
According to the Samoa Observer, the nation's English newspaper, Samoa's Minister of Finance Sili Epa Tuiotithe told the parliament that the second supplementary budget or the stimulus package, which is a considerable amount given the implementation within the next 3-6 months, is the result of close collaboration between the Ministries and Corporations of Government.
The stimulus package highlights the following sectors: health response, enabling the private sector, securing the purchasing power of citizens, food security in the agricultural sector and multi-sectoral response.
A total of 20.3 million tala (about 7.9 million U.S. dollars) has been allocated for the the health sector response which will cover the following: preparedness and prevention; negative pressure rooms; isolation room; quarantines; testing, tracing, reporting and treatment; COVID-19 medical and consumables.
Currently, Samoa has no confirmed cases of COVID-19.
