AROUND one million people in Northern Ireland are still waiting on a £100 Spend Local card, the Department for the Economy (DfE) has said.
In the region of 1.3 million applications have been made to the scheme since it opened on October 4.
But two weeks on, just 150,000 cards have been activated, with £5 million spent.
Around 350,000 cards have been issued during the first two weeks.
DfE had initially planned for recipients to have four weeks to spend their £100.
All cards are due to automatically stop working after November 30.
At the current rate of distribution, between 700,000 and 850,000 would be issued at the midway point of the two-month window for using the card.
Originally announced as a £145m scheme for 1.4 million people, DfE is now working off the latest population estimates from the NI Statistics and Research Agency (Nisra), meaning as many as 1.5 million people could potentially be eligible.
The department has now set aside an additional £21m as a contingency for the scheme running over budget.
Economy officials have also said the cost of running the scheme will be higher than the £5m previously envisaged due factors not anticipated when it was first announced, such as an online portal and telephone service.
The Spend Local online portal and accompanying telephony service will close for applications on Monday October 25.
