January 22, 2024 (MLN): Protecting the most vulnerable by strengthening social protection and social spending levels is key to Pakistan’s development, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) highlighted in its first review report under the Standby Arrangement published.
Social protection spending was on pace in 1QFY24 to execute the FY24 Benazir Income Support Program (BISP) envelope of Rs472 billion (0.4% of GDP), a 30% increase over BISP spending in FY23 (excluding one-off flood-related spending).
This year’s BISP envelope allows the authorities to absorb an additional 300,000 families into BISP’s unconditional cash transfer (Kafaalat) program, bringing enrollment to 9.3 million families.
In addition, the planned inflation adjustment of the Kafaalat stipend in January 2024 (end-January 2024 SB) will protect the scheme’s current real generosity level.
The authorities should also accelerate the enrollment of participants into BISP’s conditional cash transfer programs supporting education, health, and nutrition, for which an additional 1.2m new children and 0.8m new families, respectively, are targeted for enrollment in FY24, the report noted.
The National SocioEconomic Registry's dynamic registry is fully operational nationwide.
With payments now made through a real time, biometric-based mechanism, BISP is able to quickly respond to shocks.
However, there is scope to improve the efficiency and transparency of its disbursement mechanisms.
While the end-September health and education spending target was met, the authorities expect to fall short of the original end-December target, partly due to limits on the caretaker government's ability to execute new projects, it said.
Execution of this spending needs to continue later this fiscal year when the new government is formed, the global lender stressed.
Separately, the protection of the most vulnerable through lifeline and protected power and gas tariff slabs must continue until, over the longer term, they can effectively be replaced by a targeted BISP scheme, the report further added.
Copyright Mettis Link News
Posted on: 2024-01-22T11:01:59+05:00
