Egypt began on Sunday disbursing the last tranche of cash payments to irregular workers who are affected by the repercussions of the coronavirus pandemic.

The Egyptian government has been giving irregular workers a monthly financial assistance package of EGP 500 since last year, per presidential orders, to help workers cope with the economic impact of the pandemic that hit the country in mid-February last year.

President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi instructed the government in March 2020 to disburse EGP 500 in monthly financial aid – initially set for six months and then extended for another six months – to irregular workers who have registered with the Ministry of Manpower.

More than EGP 5.3 billion has been disbursed to irregular workers since the onset of the pandemic in March, according to numbers provided by Mohamed Maait, the finance minister, last month.