By Adama Makasuba
The governor of the Central Bank of The Gambia has disclosed the new expected assistance in this yet to end coronavirus pandemic in the country as he said the government will roll-out another food aid package for poor Gambians amid coronavirus pandemic.
This become known on Thursday as the Central Bank governor Buah Saidy informed member of press corps at the bank’s quarterly monetary policy committee news conference held in Banjul.
Large numbers of Gambian families were given food aid like rice and oil in the middle of the pandemic that sought to help families facing economic hardship.
But the distribution sparked criticism among dozens of Gambians who accused the Barrow-led administration of not being fair taken to consideration the distribution process of the package.
“And there is another second-round food aid that is coming it is about 2,20 million dalasis that is going to be given to the poor,” he said.
He added that “The famous food aid that was given to Gambian people: the poor and vulnerable was a major expenditure, it was about 8,13 million dalasis.”
According to him, this is geared towards supporting the economy. To make sure the economy is stable and also restarting the economy.
Meanwhile, he added: “remittances totaled $472.80 million from January to October 2020” and “this trend is expected to continue for the remainder of 2020.”
Although, he said, despite the remittance surplus, Mr Saidy said the dalasi depreciated against hard currencies like U.S dollar, euro, and pound sterling.