Salary relief grants managed by Ministry of Finance, not Social Development

The Ministry of Finance is calling on the media to do “more stringent research and vetting of stories” after inaccurate information about salary relief grants was published.

In a release, the ministry referred to an Express story published on Thursday.

The article quotes an unnamed customer service representative who claimed the Central Bank was causing a delay in the grant payment process.

But the ministry said, “The Central Bank plays no role whatsoever in the disbursement of funds from the treasury to commercial banks on behalf of any ministry for payments.

It said one interviewee was quoted in the story as saying that she had applied at the Social Development Ministry for the salary relief grant.

"The salary relief grant is administered by the Ministry of Finance,” the ministry said in its release.

The article also said someone had initially applied on April 17 and reapplied on March 31.

“Application for the salary relief grant began on April 9, so a March application was impossible either online or in person,” the ministry said.

It added that as of March 24, some 30,300 applications for the grant had been received. From that total, 11,452 were delivered by hand to TTPost locations, and 18,758 were sent by e-mail.

“Two weeks have elapsed since we began to receive applications. As of Monday, April 27, we have processed and authorised more than 2,000 salary relief grants and will continue to process and issue payments daily.”

The ministry reminded the public the application forms for the grant are available at police stations and on the National Insurance Board’s website – not at the Ministry of Social Development and Family Services.

It said the media should try their best not to misguide people “during this very tense time.”