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TL;DR
The Marshall Islands has completed the first year of Enra, a quarterly payment for resident citizens, and approved $32.5 million for its second year, plus a $3.2 million top-up. Payments reached more than 40,000 people, but no evaluation of the program’s effects has been published, and the funding comes from a trust fund rather than recurring tax revenue.
The Marshall Islands has approved $32.5 million for the second year of Enra, its quarterly payment to resident citizens, after completing four distributions in the program’s first year. The latest payment, made in August 2026, was $215.85 per person to 40,714 people; however, no public evaluation yet shows what the payments changed for households or the wider economy.
Parliament passed the second-year budget on September 18, including $32.5 million for Enra and a separate $3.2 million top-up. The allocation is higher than the previous year’s budget line of $27.6 million. A trust fund committee approved the $32.5 million program allocation on September 2, according to the source report.
Enra’s official name is the Individual Support Distribution. Eligible recipients are Marshallese citizens living in the country, including children; citizens living abroad are excluded. Payments are divided from a fixed annual budget and sent quarterly by check, bank deposit or the Lomalo phone wallet. The amount per recipient can change as enrollment changes or extra funding is added.
The first payment, in November 2025, was $201.92 and went to more than 33,000 people. As registrations grew, the second payment fell to about $160. A $3.2 million World Bank grant helped raise the third and fourth payments to about $200; the August payment was $215.85. MISSA’s administrator told the Marshall Islands Journal that 40,714 people received that final distribution. President Hilda Heine has said the total represents more than 95% of the resident population.
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 with limited evidence
Enra moves basic income beyond a short pilot: it is a countrywide recurring payment that includes children and does not impose a means test or work requirement. Its first year offers a practical example of how a government can distribute money across a population, including people on remote islands. The program uses checks, bank deposits and a phone wallet because bank branches are concentrated on the two most populated atolls, while mailed checks may take weeks to reach outer islands.
But reach is not the same as impact. The source report says no evaluation has been published, so the available figures establish how many people were paid and how payment sizes varied, not whether Enra reduced hardship, affected work, improved health or changed local prices. For countries considering income support as automation and AI alter employment, that distinction matters: one program’s delivery model cannot, without outcome evidence, settle wider questions about basic income.
Its financing also limits what other governments can infer. Enra is funded from a trust fund established under the Compact of Free Association with the United States, not from a new permanent tax stream. The fund was valued at about $1.77 billion at the end of July 2026, according to the source material. That gives the Marshall Islands a particular source of funding, while leaving open how durable the payments would be if investment returns or budgets changed.
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How Enra reached its first year
The first payment was made on November 26, 2025. The program’s initial distribution covered more than 33,000 people, based on the enrollment count reported by September 30 of that year. Subsequent payments were delayed while officials reviewed new registrations and residency. The finance minister said immigration records were used to check departures; citizens away for more than three months could be removed from the list, with exceptions including students, diplomats and people sent abroad for medical treatment.
As enrollment rose above 37,000 and then 41,000, the fixed budget meant each person’s share would otherwise shrink. The World Bank grant provided $3.2 million to supplement the third and fourth rounds. Across the first year, a recipient received roughly $780 in total, according to the source report’s calculation. That amount is a reported estimate, not a published assessment of the program’s economic effects.
The digital wallet has attracted attention because it can deliver a token called USDM1 on a public blockchain. The Ministry of Finance describes USDM1 as a US-dollar sovereign bond backed one-to-one by short-dated US Treasuries, and rejects describing it as a cryptocurrency, central bank digital currency or stablecoin. The number of Enra recipients using the wallet has not been published. The Economist also reported on the program on October 29, 2026, drawing renewed attention to a rollout that began nearly a year earlier.
Effects and long-term funding remain open
The central evidence gap is what Enra does beyond distributing money. No published program evaluation is cited in the source material, and there are no reported findings here on household income, food security, employment, health or prices. Claims about the program’s broader benefits or costs should therefore be treated as untested.
Long-term affordability is also uncertain. The IMF estimated the program cost at 8.1% of GDP in fiscal 2026 and advised replacing it with targeted support at the first feasible opportunity. The source material does not specify a replacement plan, how future payments would respond to changes in the trust fund, or whether the additional top-up will recur. It also does not report how many recipients use Lomalo rather than checks or bank deposits.
Monitoring the second-year payments
The next development to watch is how the second-year budget translates into quarterly payments: the approved figures establish the allocation, but do not by themselves confirm each payment’s date or amount per person. Those amounts can depend on enrollment, additional grants and decisions about the fixed program budget.
Further reporting will be needed on recipient numbers, payment timing and funding sources, as well as whether the government publishes an evaluation of results. The IMF’s call for a targeted alternative and the government’s continued funding of Enra set out competing policy directions; the source material does not say that a replacement has been adopted.
Key Questions
What is Enra?
Enra, officially the Individual Support Distribution, is a quarterly payment for Marshallese citizens who live in the Marshall Islands. It includes children and has no means test or work requirement, according to the source report.
How much did recipients get in the first year?
The payment amount varied. The August 2026 distribution was $215.85 per person, and the source report estimates that a resident received about $780 across the four first-year payments.
How is Enra funded?
The program is funded through a trust fund established under the Compact of Free Association with the United States. The approved second-year allocation is $32.5 million, with a separate $3.2 million top-up in the budget.
Does the first year show that basic income works?
Not on the evidence cited so far. The first year shows that payments reached more than 40,000 people, but no public evaluation of outcomes is reported, so effects on living conditions, work or the economy remain unknown.
What does the IMF say about Enra?
The IMF estimated Enra’s cost at 8.1% of GDP in fiscal 2026 and urged the government to replace it with a targeted scheme at the first feasible opportunity, according to the source material.
Source: ThorstenMeyerAI.com
