Faced with persistent inflation, rising income inequality, and employment challenges, the government is preparing an unprecedented expansion of its social safety net ecosystem in the upcoming FY27 national budget.
Beyond standard inflation-adjustments to legacy allowances, the state is introducing targeted family cash transfers, direct agrarian subsidies, honorary allowances for religious institution employees, unemployment cushions, and welfare support for victims of the July mass uprising.
According to internal sources from the Ministry of Finance, the first full fiscal budget presented by the BNP-led administration aims to lay down the groundwork for a comprehensive welfare state.
Finance Minister Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury is scheduled to formally table the proposed Tk938,000 crore national budget before Parliament on Thursday.
Within this master plan, the state has finalized a total allocation of Tk145,000 crore exclusively for social safety nets—marking a significant increase of nearly Tk28,000 crore over the outgoing fiscal year's baseline of Tk116,731 crore.
Macroeconomic analysts observe that this structural expansion represents one of the largest single-year expansions of public welfare networks in the nation's post-independence history.
Ministry of Finance officials indicate that the budgetary allocation marks a transition toward a "lifecycle-based" social security infrastructure.
The policy is designed to deploy state protection mechanisms tailored to a citizen's economic and biological vulnerabilities from birth through old age.
By integrating direct cash assistance, nutritional safety nets, agricultural inputs, accessible healthcare grants, and employment-focused work programs, public planners aim to support domestic demand-driven economic growth while mitigating absolute poverty.
The core component of the upcoming social safety architecture is the newly introduced "Family Card" program, designed to act as the primary defense against urban and rural poverty.
In the upcoming fiscal year, the program will deliver a monthly cash transfer of Tk2,500 directly to 4.1 million female-headed households, requiring a state expenditure of Tk12,374 crore.
The government’s five-year layout aims to scale this network to encompass 16.1 million families, with an estimated cumulative funding requirement of Tk134,000 crore.
To optimize fund distribution, Family Card holders will be legally barred from concurrently receiving other traditional social welfare stipends.
State planners note this restriction will eliminate double-dipping, reduce leakage, and ensure that limited fiscal resources reach the most vulnerable households.
Farmer card scheme
To strengthen the agrarian economy and build a reliable digital framework for rural development, the government is introducing the "Farmer Card" scheme for the first time.
The initial rollout will cover 4.25 million farmers, with each cardholder receiving an annual cash injection of Tk2,500.
The total fiscal allocation for this program is set at Tk1,062.50 crore.
Policy planners emphasize that building this verified, digital farmer database will streamline the future distribution of fertilizer, high-yield seeds, agricultural credit lines, and direct price subsidies.
The total beneficiary base will expand from 6.1 million to 6.2 million citizens, with monthly individual payouts increasing from Tk650 to Tk700.
The recipient pool will be scaled up to 30 lakh women, with monthly stipends rising from Tk650 to Tk700.
The coverage net will expand significantly from 3.45 million individuals to 3.8 million beneficiaries, with monthly allowances rising from Tk900 to Tk1,000.
The number of active student scholarship recipients will increase from 81,000 to 100,000, with tier-specific monthly scholarship rates increasing by between Tk100 and Tk200.
In an unprecedented fiscal move, the government is establishing a comprehensive honorary allowance system for workers employed across mosques, temples, churches, and Buddhist monasteries.
The program will cover 2,55,666 religious workers under a structured payout schedule:
- Imams, Temple Priests, and Monastery Abbots: Monthly allowance of Tk5,000
- Muezzins, Sevayats, and Deputy Abbots: Monthly allowance of Tk3,000
- Khidmah/Institutional Attendants: Monthly allowance of Tk2,000
The state will also provide supplementary financial allocations for major religious festivals.
The upcoming welfare package also introduces a specialized monthly honorary pension designed to support families of martyrs and individuals injured during the July mass uprising.
The program covers 16,513 registered individuals across four operational classifications:
- Martyred Families & Category 'A' Injured (Severe Disability): Monthly pension of Tk20,000
- Category 'B' Injured: Monthly pension of Tk15,000
- Category 'C' Injured: Monthly pension of Tk10,000
The total budgetary requirement to fund this program is estimated at Tk237 crore.
The budget expands the Vulnerable Group Feeding (VGF) framework to include 1.5 million core beneficiaries, alongside continued funding for subsidized open-market food distribution channels.
Concurrently, a new temporary support system for displaced workers will be launched. Under this framework, 15,000 unemployed laborers will receive a monthly stipend of Tk 5,000 for up to three consecutive months.
Additionally, the government plans to finance rural public works programs—such as canal excavation and tree planting initiatives—to create immediate source-income jobs for the rural poor while supporting environmental conservation.
Doubling medical subsidies for critical illnesses
To lower out-of-pocket medical expenses, the one-time emergency healthcare grant for patients diagnosed with cancer, kidney disease, liver cirrhosis, thalassemia, congenital heart disease, or stroke-induced paralysis is being doubled from Tk50,000 to Tk1,000,000.
The total number of eligible recipients will also be expanded from 60,000 to 65,000 citizens.
A historical challenge for Bangladesh's social safety programs has been inaccurate beneficiary selection, duplicate registrations, and administrative leakages.
To address these vulnerabilities, the upcoming budget mandates that all beneficiary verification be tied directly to National Identity (NID) and digital birth registration databases.
Concurrently, the government will deploy the "Dynamic Social Registry (DSR)"—a centralized, online data warehouse built to store, cross-verify, and track recipient information in real time.
