ISLAMABAD: Finance Ministry has released Rs 315 billion to Benazir Income Support Program (BISP) in last seven years for disbursement among more than five million beneficiary families.
“This amount has been released from the day of inception of BISP July 2008 till mid of 2015” a well-placed official source at Finance Ministry told this scribe here on Sunday.
The source said that Rs. 18.94 billion had been disbursed to more than 1.1 million beneficiary families across the country from FY 2009-10.
BISP was started as the safety mechanism for the poorest of the poor against fuel and food inflation. Program is not a poverty reduction program rather it is an income support program to provide a minimum income package to the poor, to protect the vulnerable population against chronic and transient poverty.
However for the first time the most vulnerable people have an access to a basic safety net program that has positively impacted on their living conditions.
Over the years, Finance Ministry has been increasing the budget allocations for BISP from Rs.40 billion in 2012-2013 to an allocation of Rs.75 billion in 2013-14 and then to Rs.97.15 billion, in 2014-15. Now, the allocation has been further enhanced to Rs.102 billion for FY 2015-16.
However, during the tenure of the incumbent Government Finance Ministry also has increased the budget of Pakistan Baitul Mal (PBM) for FY 2015-16 from Rs.2 billion to Rs.4 billion.
PBM is not directly dealing with the task of reduction in poverty ratio. However, its ongoing schemes/programmes are definitely contributing towards reduction in overall financial problems by giving financial and social benefit to the most deserving and neglected segments of the society.
