341. A “one-off amnesty” was accorded last year to some 500 households deprived from electricity due to unpaid bills. 342. The Hire Purchase and Credit Sale (Charges) Regulations 2000 was amended in 2018 to remove any surcharge for late payment of an instalment. 343. Flood victims are paid a daily flood allowance of Rs 182 per member of a family per day for a maximum of three days in the event that (i) their premises have been flooded, and (ii) their foodstuffs have been damaged. The payment is released subject to a Police memo certifying that the foodstuff has actually been damaged. In addition, where the Police is satisfied that there is damage to other belongings, an applicant will be eligible for a financial compensation of Rs 6,000 being paid to each adult while every child under 18 years will receive Rs 3,000 in each household. SME 344. Several schemes/measures/programmes, all in line with the 10-Year Master Plan were formulated and launched in February/December 2018 by SME Mauritius for the betterment and enhancement of our SMEs. Table 36: Schemes under the 10-Year Master Plan SN Schemes 1 Access to Market – Barcode Registration 117 117 2 Technology and Skills Transfer – Inclusive Business 31 31 3 Mentoring and Hand-Holding Programme 64 60 4 Green Energy Promotion – Solar Photovoltaic Rebate Scheme Communication and Visibility – Online Presence Certification scheme SME Productivity Improvement Programme 51 51 82 82 86 22 50 22 5 6 7 Applications received as at June 2019 Applications approved as at June 2019 Source: Ministry of Business, Enterprise and Cooperatives (Business and Enterprise Division) 345. Moreover, SME Mauritius has launched the SME Employment Scheme, whereby a first batch of graduates was placed in different SMEs and some 478 Mauritian graduates have benefited from this programme while 43 graduates have been placed in Rodrigues as at June 2019. 129

Select target paragraph3