With COVID-19 hitting worldwide, each government has taken the measures they believe are necessary to at least keep their citizens out of harm's way. One of the most eye-catching strategies has come from El Salvador’s president, Nayib Bukele, who ordered a three-month freeze on payments including mortgages, rentals, credit cards, and utilities, among others. Bukele will also give low-income families the equivalent of a $300 bond per month during the period.
It sounds like a plan, but Puerto Rican rapper Residente had many questions in regard to Bukele's proposal and he reached out to El Salvador’s president for an Instagram Live Q&A which took place on Tuesday night (March 24).
Residente's most pressing question was understanding how the plan wouldn't increase people's debt. "The most important thing about this crisis is to stay at home. And if people don’t have to pay bills or mortgage they’ll stay," says Bukele, whose plan is designed in a way that his citizens won’t need to repay all at once. When the grace period is over they will repay by adding a calculated flat fee rate with no interest to their monthly payments depending on the contract length.
