62,363 persons have applied under phase two of the unemployment relief program. Of that figure, 29% or 18,364 have received a payment, while 20,197 applications have been approved. That outstanding 1,800 or so should expect payment in their bank account this week.
All those disbursements are coning through the National Bank of Belize, which has replaced the Social Security Board as the paying agent. That has led to far fewer rejected payments - but, still, 652 have been rejected. And that's usually due to some error in the unemployed person's listing of their bank account number. The Ministry of Labour insists that applicants should ask their bank how to properly write out their bank account number, including any transit codes that may be needed.
And while over 62,000 people have applied, over 11,000 applications have been rejected - and that includes persons who are already on the BOOST program, receive a government or social security pension; or applied as "long term unemployed" in Phase 1, since that category is not available in phase 2. Also excluded are persons below the age of 18; or those who have identified an employer that says they do not, or have never worked at their business establishment.
