470,420 citizens processed to date
Senior Minister in the Office of the President with Responsibility for Finance Dr. Ashni Singh yesterday said that the government has now launched the third phase of the cash grant distribution process for citizens who do not have bank accounts.
The first phase of the distribution process saw persons receiving direct deposits of the cash grant into their bank accounts including Central Government Employees and citizens who self-registered using their mobile phones.
A release from the Ministry of Finance said the the Government then moved to the second phase which entailed special outreaches to hinterland and outlying communities which did not have access to banking facilities, as well as homes of shut-ins, persons in shelters, hostels and senior citizen homes. These persons were registered by government teams and were subsequently processed for cheque payments.
This third phase now launched is for eligible persons who do not have bank accounts and would prefer to receive their cash grant by cheque.
Singh explained that the third phase will work as follows:
“The same cash grant portal that was established by the young and very talented team at the National Data Management Authority—a team, incidentally, who deserve our compliments for the excellent work that they did in developing this portal—(the portal that is located at cashgrant.gov.gy) now has an option for persons to self-register, but to select as their preferred option for the delivery of their cash grant, the modality of a cheque. These persons will be able to register on the cash grant portal (cashgrant.gov.gy) and indicate the option that they prefer to be paid by cheque. They will then receive a call when their cheque would have been processed and is ready to be uplifted.”
He added that these persons who do not have bank accounts and were previously not registered can visit cashgrant.gov.gy, register, and enter their relevant identity and other information—including other such details as scanning their ID card, providing their other pertinent details and completing the liveness check.
“It verifies that you are a real person and alive and it then gives you an option to request cheque payment,” he said.
The finance minister said cheques will then be printed for these persons which will then be distributed to several locations countrywide.
“You may wonder how you will be aware that your cheque is available to be collected and when and where you should go to collect those cheques. There are two means through which you will be notified – the first is that on the portal, you may on any subsequent occasion to registering, log in and once you log in to the portal, the portal will provide you with an up-to-date status of your application, meaning it will either tell you that your application is being processed, or, once your cheque has been cut and is available at a location close to where you live, it will tell you that your cheque is available at a specified location and will be ready for collection at a specified date and time,” Singh said.
He added that government will also be notifying persons by way of phone call on the number that they provided when they registered to advise them where their cheque is for collection and when they may go to that location to collect the cheque.
Notwithstanding the launch of this third phase of the distribution process, the Government continues to encourage citizens to open bank accounts to enjoy safer, faster, and more convenient access to financial services in the future.
“I wish further to say that in keeping with President Irfaan Ali’s government’s emphasis on financial inclusion and financial literacy, we will continue to encourage you (citizens)to open bank accounts, and we will have teams or persons available to still encourage you, even when you collect your cheque to open bank accounts using the online facilities that several banks have implemented. Because even if you have chosen in this instance to receive your cash grant by way of a cheque, a bank account will prove useful to you in the future for a multiplicity of reasons,” Singh said.
The finance minister pointed out that to date, the number of persons processed for the $100, 000 cash grant through self-registration on the portal using their mobile phones along with those who were processed for cheque payments total 470, 420 placing over $47 billion in disposable income into their hands.
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