Financial Aid For Entrepreneurs: Finance Ministry Disowns FAKE Message

The Ministry of Finance and Economic Development has disowned FAKE messages that invited entrepreneurs to apply for financial aid saying members of the public must ignore the messages. Pindula News present the statement issued by the ministry in response to the messages.

The Ministry of Finance and Economic Development has noted with grave concern, some messages which are circulating on social media, inviting entrepreneurs to submit applications for financial aid as part of the economic recovery programme in the wake of COVID 19. The messages allege that the Department of Local Economic Development has partnered with the International Economic Development Council and Africa Investment Forum to provide financial grants for citizen-owned businesses. Further, the messages cite a non-existent Economic Empowerment Act No.9 of 2020 and SI 36 of 2019, which talks about Financial Services Authority (Regulatory Sandbox Exemption).

The address used on the adverts suggest a connection with the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development. The public is advised that the Ministry does not have a Department of Local Economic Development and the cited individuals are not Ministry officials.
The messages are hereby declared FALSE and should be regarded with the contempt deserved.

To avoid loss of private information as well as actual and potential financial loss, the Ministry urges the public to ignore any malicious messages and in particular to check the authenticity of any information propagated on social media before sharing personal details. In order to bring the perpetrators to book, appropriate actions to determine the origins of the messages is being pursued through the relevant law enforcement agencies.

The FAKE message claimed that the maximum amount applicable this year had dropped to USD500 000 to allow other applicants equal opportunity to be beneficiaries.

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