LONDON — The British government is digging deeper into its pockets, with plans to extend a nationwide furlough scheme to the end of October and a new program to support garment and agricultural supply chains in Africa, the Middle East and Asia.
According to the BBC, a quarter of the U.K. workforce, or 7.5 million people, are taking advantage of the furlough scheme, which is costing the government about 14 billion pounds a month. The furlough program was unveiled in March, after the country effectively shut down due to the outbreak of COVID-19, and was supposed to run until the end of June. Given the country won’t start reopening until June 1, at the earliest, it has decided to extend the scheme in a bid to stem potential job losses, and keep the economy afloat until businesses can fully reopen later this year.