102 local companies that supply the Basic Basket program have already received payments totaling more than US $ 26 thousand
The Ministry of Finance (MF), through the Technical Secretariat of the COVID-19 Fund, made, between March 18th and May 4th, 2021, payments related to the Basic Basket Programme, to 102 local companies, for a total amount of USD$ 26,354,515.00.
Of these 102 payments, 50 relate to payment requests from the Ministry of Tourism, Commerce and Industry (MTCI), for a total amount of USD$ 10,635,966.00, 24 relate to payment requests from SeCoop, for a total of USD$ 12,498,312.00, 21 relate to payment requests from CLN, for a total amount of USD$ 2,027,558.00, and 7 relate to payment requests from the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries (MAP), for a total of USD$ 1,192,678.00.
The Technical Secretariat of the COVID-19 Fund continues to work closely with the Implementing Ministries to speed up the payment to the companies supplying the Basic Basket Program. With the promulgation of the Rectified State Budget Law by His Excellency Dr Francisco Guterres Lú Olo, some changes in budget allocations, including the COVID-19 Fund allocations, have been made.
The allocation of the COVID-19 Fund, which had an initial amount of USD$ 31,000,000.00, was reinforced with an amount of USD$ 256,641,793.00, now totalling USD$ 287,641,793.00. The reinforcement of the allocation of the COVID-19 Fund will allow the Government to allocate USD$ 34.5 million to purchase the vaccines against COVID-19, sufficient to be able to immunize the entire population, purchase materials and personal protective equipment and material for testing and treatment for COVID-19 inpatients, the construction and rental of spaces for isolation and quarantine and the improvement of isolation sites throughout the territory.
Moreover, with this change in the allocation of COVID-19 Fund, the Government also has the opportunity to fund socio-economic measures, such as employment support (USD$ 45.3 million), credit moratoria (USD$ 2 million), tuition fee exemption for higher education students (USD$ 14 million) and internet subsidy for higher education students (USD$ 2,2 million), purchase of food products from local producers (USD$ 12 million), subsidy for electricity, funding of the operation of the Integrated Centre for Crisis Management with (USD$ 16.7 million), funding of the salary supplement for front line workers (USD$ 51.9 million), and to conclude the Basic Basket programme (USD$ 31 million).
The Ministry of Finance would also like to add that when the documents of the payment claims are complete, correct and meet the requirements for payment, according to the Law, the Technical Secretariat of the COVID-19 Fund processes all documents and makes the payment, according to the rules in force.
However, before the Technical Secretariat of the COVID-19 Fund makes the payment, all companies must fulfil their obligations, namely payment of income tax in the amount of 0.5% of their total income, as stipulated in the Tax Law. Companies must present the receipt of the income tax payment to the Technical Secretariat of COVID-19 Fund, for final payment.
In case the supplying companies have any questions or need more information about the tax, they can approach the Tax Authority directly, or they can visit the Tax Authority portal www.attl.gov.tl and there consult information about tax payment, submission of monthly/annual reports and application for the issuance of Debt Certificate. It is also informed that the payment of tax can now be made through the P24 ATM machines. This means that taxpayers no longer need to visit commercial banks, as before.
