Namibians benefit from emergency income grant amid COVID-19 outbreak

   WINDHOEK, May 5  -- Namibia's Finance Ministry Tuesday said a total of 576,104 people out of 970,720 applicants were approved for payment under the Emergency Income Grant which ended midnight on April 30, an official said.
   Namibia Finance Ministry Chief Public Relations Officer Tonateni Shidhudhu on Tuesday confirmed that the payments to over half a million Namibians have been made and the remaining payments for approved applicants are in the process of disbursement.
   A large number of applicants were rejected for various reasons that included ID number belonging to the deceased persons, mismatch of names and ID numbers with official records, he said.
   According to Shidhudhu, the ministry managed to disburse about 432 million Namibia dollars (about 24 million U.S. dollars), since the commencement of the disbursement of funds on April 14.
   Meanwhile, Shidhudhu said the Ministry of Finance has set May 8 as the due date for verification for those who have not received the grants.  Xinhua