The interim government is likely to introduce a transparent system for social safety net schemes in the upcoming budget, increasing the number of beneficiaries by around 10 lakh while slashing one-third of the existing programmes.
Nearly two-thirds of the allocations under this fiscal year’s social security budget do not qualify as genuine social protection spending, according to a study by the Citizens Platform for SDGs, Bangladesh.
Bangladesh must urgently redirect resources within its fragmented social protection system and scale up a handful of proven programmes that directly benefit the poorest, according to a leading economist.
The government will increase the number of beneficiaries of various social safety net schemes by at least 10 lakh from fiscal year (FY) 2025-2026, but allowances will see a small increase, although poor groups have been facing stubbornly high inflation for years.
The universal pension would be out of reach of the extremely poor, such as day labourers, due to their inability to make contributions.
It fails to commit to reforms and address people’s sufferings
Under the FY24-25 social safety net programme of Bangladesh, the pension for retired government employees and savings scheme interest payments account for nearly the same allocation as social assistance for the poor, the old and the disaster-struck.
No matter how tight the budget is, the social safety net sector has to be given its due importance.
30 percent of total social safety allocations going to the non-poor
Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal today proposed increasing the allocation by 5.5 per cent year-on-year for social safety net programmes carried out by the government.
The government will broaden its social safety net programmes in the upcoming national budget to continue support to the country’s marginalised population, Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal said yesterday.
The government is committed to using the long-overdue National Household Database (NHD) from the next fiscal year to better target the social safety net programmes, in a development that can infuse dynamism in the flat scheme.
Shamsul Huda, a beneficiary of the government’s social safety net programmes, lives in a rickety little tin- shack in Noboganga area under Paba upazila of Rajshahi.
In circuses, whenever artists perform the tightrope walking stunt, underneath them are wide nets to prevent them from falling to the ground and avoiding potentially life-threatening injuries -- lest they lose their balance on the thin rope and falls over.
