Local Government Authority (LGA) has distributed the first installment of the block grant, facilitated under State Budget 2020, to local councils.
The state budget includes USD 103.6 million to be distributed among local councils as a block grant. LGA distributed the first installment of the grant yesterday, which amounts to a total of USD 8.7 million.
The block grant is part of the efforts of the administration to empower local councils and to strengthen the decentralization system. The grant consists of 5% of domestic revenue and 40% of the revenue generated from renting land, islands, lagoons and reefs.
The grant provided under the state budget this year is over two fold higher than the grant provided in State Budget 2019, which was USD 42.5 million.