Sudan has begun distributing cash handouts under an internationally backed plan to help millions cope with an economic crisis aggravated by the coronavirus pandemic, recipients and the authorities said.

The stimulus is funded from $1.8 billion pledged by 40 countries at a conference last month in Germany as the African nation transitions from three decades of rule under now-ousted autocrat Omar al-Bashir.

“The programme is based on supporting 80 percent of the country’s population with direct cash support from the state,” Essam Abbas, director of the finance ministry’s digital transformation agency, told AFP.

“It’s a project that aims to help this segment of the population in facing the economic reforms head-on,” he said in an interview days after the scheme was launched nationwide.

Yasser Mohamed al-Nour is among those who have benefited from the handouts, part of an economic reform agreement the government reached with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) last month.

“I have a family of 11 and I work in a tailor’s shop. I receive 2,500 pounds (about $21) from the finance ministry monthly,” he said.