Poor people, including the old, widowed, deserted and destitute women, and the financially insolvent disabled, will get more allowances in the next 2018-2019 fiscal year as the government is going to increase the allocation for the Social Safety Net Program.
"The coverage of the Social Safety Net Program will be increased. As well as, the amount for the programme will also be increased in the next budget," Finance Secretary Mohammad Muslim Chowdhury told BSS.
The government is likely to increase the amount by around Tk10,000 crore in the upcoming fiscal for giving poor people a comfortable living, he added.
In the outgoing FY2017-18, the government allocated Tk54,206 crore for the Social Safety Net Program, which was 13.50% of the total budget and 2.4% of the gross domestic product (GDP).
The finance secretary said the government will increase the coverage of old age allowances. From next fiscal year, about four million people will get the old age allowance which is now around 3.5 million, he added.
"We will increase the coverage of every scheme; side by side, the amount will also be increased," he said.
Muslim Chowdhury said expansion of the safety net will bring more poverty-stricken people under the program and help alleviate poverty.
In order to increase social security coverage and improve living standards of the poor, he said, the government has taken the initiative to widen the program.
By strengthening social safety net programs, the benefits of national growth will accrue to all, he added.
The Social Safety Net Program has mainly been undertaken to assist the poor and the disadvantaged. Under the program, around seven million poor people are receiving allowances under 118 schemes.
Of the total beneficiaries, around 600,000 poor women are receiving maternity allowances across the country. Around 75% of the allocation is being transferred in cash.
The government has also launched an "MIS integrated G2P" payment system to deliver their allowances to the poor quickly and without hassle.
Finance Minister AMA Muhith inaugurated the Government to Person (G2P) payment system on Thursday by giving maternity allowances to over 8,000 poor women in seven upazilas across the country.
The payment system will gradually cover all beneficiaries in the country.
