The Federal Emergency Management Agency is still reviewing the CNMI application for this federal program, she added.
In August, President Donald J. Trump signed an executive order to launch the lost wages assistance program, in an effort to boost the economy amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
The program is intended to replace the Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation, or FPUC, program that expired in July.
Qualified claimants, such as the unemployed and those working reduced hours, may avail themselves of this program and receive $300 from the federal government on a weekly basis, and $100 from the local government.
The lost wages assistance program requires a 25% matching fund from the local government, which, in previous interviews, Secretary of Finance David Atalig said the Commonwealth did not have, given the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the local economy.
An estimated minimum of $17 million is needed in order for the Commonwealth to meet the cost match for the lost wages assistance program.
The CNMI is hoping that the federal government will waive the matching fund requirement.
