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You know, how does Pakistan’s cash transfer program continue to work in the face of inflation?
Pakistan’s Benazir Income Support Program (BISP) is a federal unconditional cash transfer program aimed at reducing poverty, launched in July 2008. The goal of this program is to provide the poorest households with the necessary financial support to cope with the loss of purchasing power caused by high inflation.
Since 2005, the purchasing power of many Pakistani households has been eroded by rapidly rising food and oil prices.
The background to the launch of BISP came into being, aiming to combat economic difficulties, especially to reduce the economic pressure on female families. The program is currently Pakistan's largest social safety net program and the government's third largest budget expenditure.
According to statistics, BISP allocated a total of 90 billion rupees (approximately US$900 million) to 5.4 million beneficiaries in 2016, showing the importance of the program.
Project structure
BISP operates in multiple provinces of Pakistan, including Punjab, Sindh, Balgistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and even covers administratively more specialized areas such as Azad Kashmir and Isra Mabad. Funding was initially allocated through recommendations by MPs, a process that was later replaced by a detailed and systematic poverty scorecard due to corruption concerns.
Through the Poverty Scorecard, households are asked to answer 13 questions based on assets and expenditures, a methodology endorsed by the World Bank.
In addition, BISP has also designed a number of additional programs, such as the "Pathway to Education" (Waseela-e-Taleem), which requires beneficiary families to enroll their children between the ages of 5 and 12, thereby combining cash payments with education. hook up. This approach has attracted social attention because the connection between education and the economy has become increasingly obvious.
Payment and Eligibility
Families participating in BISP must have a monthly income of less than 6,000 rupees (approximately US$67). Eligible households need to have a female applicant and hold a valid ID card, as well as meet a series of other conditions.
Each eligible household will receive a quarterly cash payment of Rs 8,500, which will help boost the purchasing power of low-income households.
Challenges and Criticisms
Although BISP has achieved certain results in helping poor families, the program has also faced a lot of criticism. There is a view that the amount of cash is not enough to lift families out of poverty, and that the lack of conditions does not effectively promote improvements in education and health.
Experts say unconditional cash transfer programs are often susceptible to political favoritism and corruption. For example, previous home selection processes have often been accused of favoring supporters of the ruling party.
Future direction
BISP is moving in a redesigned direction, introducing conditions to enable beneficiaries to more effectively return to socioeconomic activities, such as conditional cash transfers related to health and education. The success of such programs will have profound consequences for the design and implementation of future policies.
Many people are looking forward to the continued operation and reform measures of the BISP program in the future, which is crucial to improving Pakistan's socio-economic environment.
Amidst the interaction between transfer payments and inflation, whether BISP can continue to provide support to the most vulnerable communities and successfully improve poverty conditions will become an important challenge for policymakers in the future?
