Bangladesh is spending little over 1% of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in different social safety net programmes, says a new World Bank report.
It said several countries have fuel subsidies that account for a substantial portion of government spending, including Bangladesh. Bangladesh spends nearly 4% of GDP in energy subsidies while the spending in social safety net is 1.09% of GDP, revealed the report titled “The State of Social Safety Nets 2015” released in Washington yesterday.
Of the social safety net portion, the Bangladesh government in 2014 spent 0.09% of GDP in conditional cash transfer, 0.24% in unconditional cash transfer, 0.44% in unconditional food and kind, 0.05% in school feeding, 0.21% in public works and 0.05% in fee waivers.
According to the report, majority of the poorest still lack coverage despite expansion of social safety nets in developing countries. It has also stressed on for more efficient and effective safety net programmes to close the coverage gap.
Regarding policy measures, the Bangladesh government has taken up National Social Protection Strategy (NSPS), which would provide a framework for coordinating the existing 95 safety net programmes, but the strategy is still awaiting cabinet approval.
Bangladesh, India, and Nepal introduced social pensions in the mid- to late-1990s targeted to a small minority of older people, but have since been gradually expanding coverage, the report said.
In Bangladesh, 7.80 lakh people were beneficiaries under stipend for primary students in 2009 through conditional cash transfers while 24.75 lakh gets benefits of old age allowance in 2011 through unconditional cash transfer.
In 2009, 21 lakh beneficiaries received grants under public food distribution system. In 2014, 14 lakh people become beneficiaries under Employment Generation Program for the Poorest (EGPP).
The report cited Shombob pilot program of Bangladesh as it significantly reduced the incidence of wasting among children who were 10–22 months old when the program started. The pilot was able to improve nutrition knowledge among mothers, including in relation to the importance of exclusive breastfeeding.
The report said that despite some promising results, countries included Bangladesh is yet to underscore the challenge of tailoring interventions to the specific skills, aptitudes, and social capital of informal, poor subsistence entrepreneurs, as opposed to more successful vocational ones.
In regards to overall situation, the report said despite investments in social safety, around 55% of the world’s poor or 773 million people with acute needs still lack safety net coverage —especially in lower- income countries and in urban areas.
More than 1.9 billion people in 136 low- and middle-income countries are now on beneficiary rolls of social safety net programs.
Three quarters of the poorest people in low- and lower-middle income countries, and more than one-third of the poorest people in middle-income countries, lack safety net coverage and remain at risk.
The report follows the recent joint statement by the heads of the World Bank Group and the International Labor Organization (ILO), endorsing the goal of universal access to social protection –including safety nets— by 2030.