The government has not increased the allocation for the social safety net in the proposed budget for the fiscal year 2022-23 despite rising inflation and soaring commodity prices.
A sum of Tk113,576 crore has been allocated to fund social safety net projects. It was Tk 107,614 crore in the previous budget.
According to budget documents, the allocation is 16.75% of the total budget and 2.55% of the gross domestic product (GDP). In the outgoing year, the amount was 17.83% of the total budget and 3.11% of the GDP.
Even though the allocation has seemingly increased, it has declined proportionately.
“The scope of the social safety net is being expanded consistently to reduce poverty and inequality in the interest of inclusive development,” Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal said in his budget speech in Parliament yesterday.
“We are working diligently to reduce economic inequality to ensure inclusive growth, and expanding the social safety net coverage and increasing the budget allocation each year. Already 29% of households have been covered by social safety net programmes, and budget allocations have increased almost eight-fold since FY08-09,” he added.
In March, the inflation rate was 6.22% but it climbed to 6.29% in April, resulting in price hikes for all types of food and commodities recently.
Thus many families across the country are struggling to maintain a decent life with limited income. The struggle mainly started in early 2020 with the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. The Ukraine-Russia war is now a factor behind the price hike of a number of commodities as well.
Initiatives taken for poor, disabled and elderly
Even though the government seeks to uphold the rights of elderly citizens by conducting long-term and sustainable programmes, the allowance of Tk500 for elderly people, tea workers, transgender people (hijra), widows and gypsy will remain unchanged for the seventh consecutive fiscal year since 2015.
In other words, with the amount, an elderly person, widowed person or hijra cannot buy more than a litre of soybean oil, five kgs of rice and a dozen eggs once a month.
The monthly allowance for disabled persons has been increased by Tk100. It is now Tk750-850.
Earlier, the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) suggested that per capita allocation for each person under the social security programme be a minimum of Tk1,000. However, the suggestion was not reflected in the proposed budget.
In the FY2022 budget, an allocation of Tk3,444.54 crore was provided for 5,701,000 beneficiaries at the monthly rate of Tk500 and it will be continued.
Moreover, allowances are being provided to 2,008,000 disabled persons at the monthly rate of Tk750. The number of beneficiaries is expected to increase by 357,000 in the next FY2023 to 2,365,000 from 2,080,000.
“The government is considering maternal and child support programmes as the best investment under social safety net programmes. As a result, considering the priority of this programme, I am proposing increasing the number of beneficiaries by 209,000 and thus the total number of beneficiaries will be 1,254,000 in FY22-23 from 1,045,000 in FY 21-22. The total allocation for this sector in FY22-23 is Tk 1,243 crore,” said Kamal.
Food and cash assistance
The finance minister said the government was now distributing 500,000 tons of rice and 509,000 tons of wheat flour in the current fiscal year 2021-2022, and this would continue in the upcoming year as well.
The ongoing programme of selling rice at Tk10 per kg to low-income people across the country will continue.
Moreover, cash assistance of Tk2,500 for day labourers, farmers, domestic workers, motor vehicle workers and people involved in other professions will continue as well, he said.
‘Family Card’ programme
The Russia-Ukraine conflict and the disruption in the global supply chain compelled the government to introduce the Family Card programme to distribute essential commodities among the poor across the country at low cost.
A list of 10,000,000 families has been finalised under this programme.
A total of 10,000,000 families, including families who received Tk2,500 as cash assistance during the pandemic period, are getting family cards from the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB). As a result, about 50,000,000 low-income people in the country will directly benefit from this government initiative.
Cash Transfer under G2P system to be strengthened
The government has decided to bring 100% payment of all social safety net allowances under the G2P system by FY2022-2023. More than 60% of such payments have already been brought under this system. In addition, a Uniform Social Register based on G2P has been developed in iBAS++.
Finance Minister Kamal said cash transfers of all social safety net programmes, including old age allowance, widow’s allowance, disability allowance, freedom fighter’s honorarium, maternity allowance and educational stipend are being made quickly in this process.
