KINGSTON, Jamaica – An additional $1.4 billion is to be paid out to Programme of Advancement Through Health and Education (PATH) beneficiaries in the 2022/2023 financial year.

This follows a recent Cabinet approval for an increase of 18.26 per cent for the programme.

Labour and Social Security Minister Karl Samuda made the announcement in his contribution to the 2022/23 Sectoral Debate in the House of Representatives on Tuesday, April 26.

“PATH benefits are reviewed every two years to ensure that the purchasing power of the amounts paid is maintained,” Minister Samuda explained.

During the financial year 2021/22, the Government disbursed $8.3 billion to approximately 140,000 families on PATH.

A further $1.4 billion was delivered to PATH families under the Social and Economic Recovery and Vaccine Programme for Jamaica (SERVE), to cushion the economic hardship brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Minister Samuda noted further that the pandemic accelerated plans within the Ministry for more beneficiary families to collect their payments via electronic payment methods.

“For the 2022/23 financial year, we will be undertaking to continue to increase the number of PATH beneficiaries receiving their benefit payments electronically to 70 per cent,” he disclosed.

The percentage of beneficiary families paid by electronic methods increased from 14 per cent in the fiscal year 2019/20 to 40 per cent during the current fiscal year.