Kuwait’s cabinet approved Monday a draft bill to extend an additional credit of 600 million dinars ($1.99 billion) dedicated to bonuses for frontline workers tackling the coronavirus pandemic.

The draft law with additional credit in the budget of ministries and government departments for the fiscal year 2020/2021 has been submitted to Kuwait’s emir and will also be referred to the parliament, the cabinet said on Twitter.

Kuwait’s cabinet had submitted in February draft legislation to parliament that would allow the government to withdraw up to 5 billion dinars ($16.53 billion) from the country’s sovereign wealth fund annually.

The Gulf country has also introduced other measures to alleviate the COVID-19 pressure on economic sectors and on affected businesses.

The National Fund for Small and Medium Enterprises Development set up mechanisms to disburse support to eligible businesses affected by the coronavirus pandemic.

Authorities were also instructed to postpone the payment of all service fees provided by the state to the owners of suspended business activities./agencies