Launch of the Food Basket (Cesta Básica) Program
The Government of Timor-Leste launched, on October 27th, 2020, the Food Basket program, at village (Suco) Sabuli, in Metinaro, Dili. The basic basket is distributed to the entire population, in the months of November and December 2020, and has a value of up to 25 US dollars for each of the two referenced months.
This is an initiative under the Economic Recovery Plan, which provides food and personal care products to the entire national population. The main objective of this measure is to support families in meeting their basic needs, contributing to fight hunger and the greater vulnerabilities in some of the poorest and most isolated regions of the country, as well as to give support to farmers, producers and local traders, in order to stimulate local economic dynamics, through the circulation of financial resources necessary to increase national production, aiming at reducing the impacts of the economic crisis.
The Coordinating Minister of Economic Affairs will be in charge of the implementation, in coordination with the Ministry of Tourism, Trade and Industry, the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, the Secretariat of State for Cooperatives, the Secretariat of State for the Environment, the Oecuse-Ambeno Special Administrative Region Authority, the National Logistic Centre, as well as with other relevant public services and institutions outside the Public Administration. The list of products was validated by the Minister of Health, taking into account, in particular, their nutritional and health value. 
The Minister of State Administration is responsible for drawing up the list of heads of households and the total number of members of the households benefiting from the food basket, as well as organizing its distribution, in conjunction with the municipal and villages’ authorities and administrations. The Minister of Social Solidarity and Inclusion will make the national network of social solidarity centres in the municipalities available to support the distribution of the food basket and the Authority of the Oecuse-Ambeno Special Administrative Region Authority coordinates the implementation of the food basket in the respective territorial area.
