Government grant

Prime Minister, Sitiveni Rabuka, said the government is in talks with USP and hopes to reach an agreement on a repayment plan that will be funded in future budgets in addition to USP’s regular annual grant, which will be reinstated in the 2023-2024 budget.

Rabuka confirmed that there will be no mini-budget this year because funds will be redeployed to meet the government’s immediate priorities.

Rabuka also claimed that the redeployment will also accommodate additional funding requests from ministries and other agencies.

VCC's Secretary General Pastor Shem Temar told the Daily Post newspaper that the money is to help tackle increasing moral issues in the country.

While he did not go into detail, he added that the concerns faced by all churches today is the increasing use of marijuana, alcohol and teen pregnancy.

In 2021, the government paid 50 million Vatu (local currency) to the Vanuatu Christian Council to support its budget.

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