Over 46.2 million have received emergency benefit

More than 46.2 million Brazilians have withdrawn the first $110 payment credited into their bank accounts as emergency benefit, which totals over $6 million released from the federal government, the Ministry of Citizenship reported.

The total amount of people reached tops the population of countries like Canada (37.5 million) and Argentina (44.5 million). Up to 70 million Brazilians are expected to receive the allowance.

According to publicly owned bank Caixa Econômica Federal, spearheading the benefit, the amount is directed at informal workers, small individual business owners, self-employed workers, and unemployed people under vulnerability, and is has been granted as part of the efforts to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic.

App

The app designed by Caixa was downloaded 67.5 million times and saw 49.2 million applications for the benefit. Its call center received over 98.6 million calls. The figures were updated by Caixa late on Wednesday afternoon (29).

*With information from the Ministry of Citizenship