Monthly allowances likely to go up

The interim government is likely to enhance allowances for distressed people from the next fiscal year as the cabinet committee concerned will sit tomorrow to finalise the decision, officials say.
Each allowance under the cash-based social safety-net programmes (SSNPs) may see a rise of Tk 50-100 as inflation erodes people's income every year, Ministry of Finance (MoF) officials say.
The government will require some Tk 40 billion to finance the additional money for cash-based allowances, a senior official of the ministry has said.
Currently, some 30 types of cash-based allowances and stipends, ranging from Tk 650 to Tk 900, are being provided to support ultra-poor and distressed people across the country.
A senior finance ministry official says if the cabinet approves the proposal at the meeting, the ministry is ready to provide the necessary additional funds for the SSNPs.
The cabinet committee, headed by Finance Adviser Dr Salehuddin Ahmed, will sit on Sunday to finalise the proposal for enhancing the rate of allowances and stipends for cash-based programmes, a senior finance ministry official says.
He says since inflation is eroding people's income, the interim government has decided to increase the rate of cash-based support for poor and distressed people.
Bangladesh provides nearly 95 SSNPs, including some 30 cash-based ones, for covering the maximum number of ultra-poor and distressed people under the social protection system.
The country needs funds of nearly Tk 1.167 trillion - representing 14.78 per cent of the national budget and 1.87 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) - for social protection schemes.
Twenty-nine out of the 30 cash-based programmes are now delivered via the government-to-person (G2P) system, meaning the money goes directly to mobile wallets (bKash, Nagad) or bank accounts.
According to the finance ministry, the interim government is working on introducing a dynamic social registry, under which any poor or distressed person can register without any human involvement in the process.
A senior social welfare ministry official has told The Financial Express the government is using the dynamic social registry to manage the 30 programmes in order to check overlapping or receiving more than one stipend in any category.
The government provides Tk 650 per month to each elderly person as old age allowance and widow & deserted women allowance, hijra (transgender) allowance, marginalised communities grant, and tea garden workers allowance.
It also provides Tk 900 per person as disability allowance and Tk 850 per person as mother & child benefit. Under the general education stipends, the government provides Tk 150 (for one child) and Tk 300 (for two children from the same family) at the primary level and Tk 200 (for one child) and Tk 400 (for two children) at the secondary level (Class 6-10).
For students with disabilities, the rates are significantly higher to cover additional support needs.
While the allowance rates were increased by roughly 30 per cent over three years, the number of beneficiaries also grew.
For instance, the number of widows receiving support increased from 2.57 million to 2.90 million in this period.
In 2023, about 80 per cent of the beneficiaries were under the G2P system.
By the upcoming fiscal year, the government aims for 100 per cent digital disbursement to eliminate middleman leakage.