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TL;DR
The Marshall Islands completed four quarterly Enra payments between November 2025 and August 2026, reaching 40,714 people in the final round. The government approved $32.5 million for the program’s second year, while the IMF has urged a move to targeted support and no public evaluation has yet measured Enra’s effects.
The Marshall Islands has completed the first year of Enra, its quarterly cash-payment program for resident citizens, and approved $32.5 million for year two. The final first-year payment was $215.85 per person, paid to 40,714 people in August, but no public evaluation has established what the program changed in recipients’ lives or the wider economy.
Enra’s official name is the Individual Support Distribution. It provides an equal share of a fixed annual allocation to eligible Marshallese citizens living in the country, including children, without a means test or work requirement. Citizens living abroad are excluded. The payments are made quarterly by check, bank deposit or the Lomalo phone wallet.
The first payment went out on November 26, 2025, at $201.92 per person to more than 33,000 people. As registrations grew, the amount fell to about $160 for the second payment in March 2026. A $3.2 million World Bank grant helped raise the third and fourth payments to around $200; the final August payment was $215.85. MISSA, the Social Security Administration, told the Marshall Islands Journal that 40,714 people received it.
For the second year, a trust fund committee approved $32.5 million on September 2, and parliament passed a budget on September 18 that included the same amount for Enra, plus a separate $3.2 million top-up. The previous year’s budget line was $27.6 million. The source account says the payment pool is fixed, so the amount each person receives can change with the number of eligible people and any additional funding.
Infographic 01 · Enra, the first year
Four payments, one fixed pot
How the Marshall Islands paid a basic income to almost every resident citizen between November 2025 and August 2026.
- Nov 2025First payment: $201.92 to more than 33,000 people. MISSA had enrolled 33,119 by 30 Sep 2025.Launch ceremony in Majuro, 26 Nov
- End Mar 2026About $160. Delayed a month to vet new registrations and residence. More than 37,000 registered, same fixed budget.Citizens away more than 3 months are removed from the list, with exceptions
- End May 2026About $200 again, thanks to a $3.2 million World Bank grant ($1.6 million per quarter). More than 41,000 on the eligible list.Pushed by the president over fuel and food prices
- Aug 2026$215.85 to 40,714 people. Fewer paper checks than in earlier rounds.MISSA administrator to the Marshall Islands Journal
Payment per person, year one
US dollars per quarter · March and May rounded as reported
Why the amount moves
- Enra is a fixed annual budget shared equally among everyone eligible that quarter.
- More registrations mean a smaller share unless the budget grows.
- Roughly $780 per person in year one, about 12% of GDP per person (IMF: $6,417, FY2023). My arithmetic.
Sources: Marshall Islands Journal (27 Nov 2025, 26 Feb, 22 May, 6 Aug, 27 Aug 2026) · IMF, 10 Sep 2025. March and May amounts as reported (“about”).
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A Nationwide Test Without Results Yet
Enra gives policymakers a live example of a nationwide, recurring cash payment, rather than a small trial limited to selected participants. Its first year shows that the government can distribute payments to tens of thousands of residents, using several delivery methods in a country where communities are spread across remote islands. That reach is a practical finding, but it is not evidence by itself of improved household wellbeing, employment outcomes or economic growth.
The question is relevant to debates about AI and the future of work, where proposals for basic income are sometimes presented as a response to job disruption. Enra does not answer whether a basic income would work in larger or wealthier economies, or whether it could replace wages or other public services. Its eligibility rules, funding source, population and local costs differ from those of countries considering AI-related income support.
Funding also shapes what the program can show. Enra is financed from a trust fund linked to the Compact of Free Association with the United States, rather than ordinary tax revenue, and its cost was estimated by the IMF at 8.1% of GDP in fiscal 2026. The IMF has called for replacing it with targeted support at the first feasible opportunity. That disagreement puts the program’s durability and the trade-off between universal payments and focused assistance at the center of the policy debate.
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How Enra Reached Residents
The program is funded through a trust fund established under the Compact of Free Association with the United States. The fund was valued at about $1.77 billion at the end of July 2026, according to the supplied source material. The government’s annual allocation is divided among eligible residents, so a larger registered population can mean smaller individual payments unless extra money is added.
Eligibility checks affected the first-year schedule. The second payment, initially expected earlier, went out at the end of March as authorities reviewed new registrations and residency. According to the finance minister, immigration records are used to review departures; citizens away for more than three months can be removed from the list, with exceptions including students, diplomats and people sent abroad for medical treatment.
The Lomalo wallet drew attention because it can deliver a digital instrument called USDM1. The finance ministry describes it as a U.S.-dollar sovereign bond backed one-to-one by short-dated U.S. Treasuries and says it is not a cryptocurrency, central bank digital currency or stablecoin. The wallet is one payment option, alongside checks and bank deposits; the number of recipients using it has not been published.
What One Year Cannot Establish
No public evaluation of Enra’s effects is identified in the source material. The payment records establish how many people received the final distribution and how the amount shifted during the year, but they do not show whether Enra changed poverty, household spending, work decisions, health or education outcomes.
It is also unclear how many recipients use Lomalo rather than checks or bank deposits, and whether all eligible residents have successfully enrolled or collected payments. The government has described coverage as more than 95% of the resident population, but the source does not provide an independent audit of that figure. Future payment amounts may also vary with enrollment and additional funding; the approved budget does not, by itself, establish a fixed per-person payment.
Funding and Evaluation in Year Two
Enra’s second year proceeds under the $32.5 million allocation approved in September, alongside the separate $3.2 million top-up in the budget. The next payments will show how the government distributes the larger allocation and whether the amount per eligible person changes as the register develops.
The policy questions remain open: whether authorities will publish an evaluation, how they will address the IMF’s call for targeted support, and how the program will be sustained through the trust fund over time. Until outcome data is available, Enra offers evidence about nationwide payment delivery and funding choices—not a settled answer about basic income, or how it might respond to AI-related changes in work.
Key Questions
Who qualifies for Enra?
Marshallese citizens who live in the Marshall Islands qualify, including children. Citizens living abroad are not eligible, subject to the residency rules and exceptions described by officials.
How much did recipients receive in the first year?
The payment varied by quarter. The first was $201.92 per person, while the last, in August 2026, was $215.85. A growing eligible list reduced one payment to about $160 before additional funding raised later distributions.
How is Enra funded?
The program is funded through a trust fund established under the Compact of Free Association with the United States, with additional support including a $3.2 million World Bank grant during the first year.
Does Enra show that basic income can offset AI job losses?
Not on the evidence currently reported. Enra is relevant to basic-income debates, but no public evaluation has established its effects on employment or other outcomes, and the Marshall Islands’ circumstances differ from those of larger economies.
What is still unknown about the program?
There is no published evaluation identified in the source material, and the number of recipients using the Lomalo wallet has not been disclosed. The eventual payment amounts and the program’s longer-term funding also remain dependent on budget decisions and enrollment.
Source: ThorstenMeyerAI.com
