PAN Trinbago president Beverley Ramsey-Moore expressed her thanks for the government's $2.3 million in funding for unsponsored steel-bands, in a statement via WhatsApp to Newsday on December 9. The grant was announced on December 8 by Culture Minister Michelle Benjamin at the post Cabinet briefing at the Diplomatic Centre, St Ann's.

The minister said the grant would pay to buy and chrome steel pans and for transportation costs for 147 bands.

Ramsey-Moore said, "Pan Trinbago wishes to clarify that the financial assistance announced by the Honourable Minister of Culture and Community Development is not new.