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TL;DR
The Marshall Islands completed the first year of Enra, a quarterly payment for eligible citizens living in the country, and budgeted more money for its second year. The program shows how a nationwide cash payment can be administered, but its outcomes have not been evaluated and its funding comes from a trust fund rather than recurring tax revenue.
The Marshall Islands has completed Enra’s first year, making quarterly payments to eligible citizens living in the country, and has approved $32.5 million for the program’s second year. The national-scale scheme is relevant to debate over whether basic income could cushion disruption from AI, but no published evaluation yet establishes what the payments changed.
Enra, officially the Individual Support Distribution, pays an equal share of a set annual budget every quarter, without a means test or work requirement. Eligibility is limited to Marshallese citizens who live in the country; citizens living abroad are excluded. Payments can be made by check, bank deposit or the Lomalo phone wallet. The first payment was issued on November 26, 2025, according to the source report.
Four quarterly payments were made between November 2025 and August 2026. The final payment was $215.85 per person and went to 40,714 people, the Marshall Islands Social Security Administration’s administrator told the Marshall Islands Journal. President Hilda Heine said recipients represented more than 95% of the resident population. The amount varied because the program divides a fixed pool among those registered: as enrollment rose, an earlier payment fell to about $160 per person.
On September 2, a US–Marshall Islands trust fund committee approved $32.5 million for year two. Parliament’s September 18 budget included that amount plus a separate $3.2 million Enra top-up. The previous year’s budget line was $27.6 million. A $3.2 million World Bank grant also helped raise the third and fourth payments in the first year. The program’s regular funding is drawn from 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 source report.
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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What Enra Can Show About Basic Income
Enra offers a test of the administration and reach of a universal-style cash payment at national scale, rather than a temporary trial involving a small sample. It may be useful to policymakers considering how to support people if AI changes employment or incomes. But the program does not, by itself, show that basic income offsets job losses, reduces poverty or changes work decisions.
The first year’s clearest result is coverage: payments reached more than 40,000 people in a country whose population is dispersed across islands and atolls. The use of checks, deposits and a phone wallet also reflects practical challenges such as limited access to bank branches and long delivery times for mail. These operational details matter to governments weighing how a payment system might reach people beyond major population centers.
The financing limits the comparison with larger or wealthier economies. Enra is funded from a dedicated trust fund, not from a recurring tax stream described in the source material. Its payments and budget therefore do not establish whether another country could sustain a similar benefit, especially during a prolonged economic downturn or a major shift in employment linked to AI.
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A National Scheme, Not a Trial
Basic-income proposals have often been tested through time-limited pilots covering selected participants. Enra differs in scale and duration: it is a government program intended to make quarterly payments to eligible residents across the Marshall Islands. The Ministry of Finance calls it “the world’s first country-wide, long-term universal basic income program”; that is the ministry’s characterization, not an independently established ranking.
Enra’s fixed annual budget has shaped the payment amounts. When registrations increased from about 33,000 before the first payment to more than 37,000 by the second round, the amount per recipient dropped to about $160. The government later used a $3.2 million World Bank grant to raise the next two payments. Officials also checked residency, with the finance minister saying citizens away for more than three months could be removed from the list, subject to exceptions such as study or medical treatment abroad.
The program has drawn attention for Lomalo, a phone wallet that distributes a digital instrument called USDM1. The finance ministry describes USDM1 as a dollar-denominated 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 recipients who use the wallet has not been published, so its role in actual payment delivery remains unclear.
Outcomes and Long-Term Costs
No evaluation of Enra has been published, according to the source report. It is not yet clear how the payments affected household spending, food security, employment, poverty or access to services. Nor is there enough published information to determine how many eligible people used the phone wallet rather than checks or bank deposits.
The program’s sustainability is also unresolved. The source report says the IMF estimated its cost at 8.1% of GDP in fiscal 2026 and recommended replacing it with a targeted scheme. The government has approved a second-year allocation, but the material does not set out a long-term funding plan or show how the trust fund would perform under different economic conditions. Enra’s experience therefore cannot yet answer whether the same model could be maintained over many years or applied in economies with different budgets.
Any link to AI-driven job displacement remains a policy question, not a demonstrated outcome of the program. Enra began as a national cash policy, not as a response to documented AI-related job losses, and the source material provides no evidence connecting recipients’ circumstances to AI.
Tracking Enra’s Second Year
The next concrete development is implementation of the second-year budget, including the approved $32.5 million allocation and $3.2 million top-up. Future quarterly payments will show whether the amount per person remains stable as enrollment and funding change. The source material does not provide a date for the next payment or a schedule for publishing a program evaluation.
Readers looking for evidence of impact will need independently reported findings on who receives payments, how households use the money and how the program affects economic outcomes. Until that evidence is available, Enra can be described as a nationwide cash-transfer program with broad reported coverage—not as proof that basic income is a proven answer to AI-related disruption.
Key Questions
What is Enra?
Enra is the Marshall Islands’ Individual Support Distribution. It makes quarterly payments from a fixed annual budget to eligible Marshallese citizens living in the country, including children, without a means test or work requirement.
How much did residents receive in the first year?
Payments varied as the number of registered recipients and available funding changed. The final payment in August 2026 was $215.85 per person, according to the Social Security Administration administrator cited by the Marshall Islands Journal.
How is Enra funded?
The program draws on a trust fund established under the Compact of Free Association with the United States. A World Bank grant also added $3.2 million during the first year. The source material does not establish a long-term funding plan beyond the approved second-year allocation.
Does Enra show that basic income can protect workers from AI?
Not yet. Enra offers experience with nationwide payment administration, but no published evaluation establishes its effects, and the source material does not link the program to AI-related job losses.
Source: ThorstenMeyerAI.com
