Karim Madad

The government has planned, keeping in view the prevailing situation of the country, to expand the scope of the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) and increase the number of its beneficiaries to 10 million, WealthPK reports.

According to the monthly report of the Ministry of Finance, at present eight million people are enrolled as beneficiaries of the financial assistance under the Benazir Kafalat and other schemes. “One million more people will be included this year and another one million in the next year’s budget,” it added.

The government has decided to include 500,000 more people from Balochistan in BISP to cover 65 percent to 70 percent of the population of the province. For this purpose, more BISP centres would be established in the province.

The report said that the government decided to set up Nashonuma centres in all the districts of the country by spending around Rs21.5 billion to address the issue of malnutrition in the children of deserving families. “Currently, there are 50 such centres in the country,” it added.

Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund, through its 24 partner organisations, has also disbursed 36,677 interest-free loans amounting to Rs1.50 billion during the month of July 2022. Since the inception of the interest-free loan component, a total of 1,974,315 interest-free loans amounting to Rs71.73 billion have been disbursed to the borrowers.

The Bureau of Emigration and Overseas Employment has registered 45,626 emigrants during July 2022 for overseas employment in different countries. Under Kamyab Jawan Youth Entrepreneurship Scheme (PMKJ-YES), the government has disbursed Rs51,704 million till June 2022 to the youth for businesses.

Regarding the health situation in the country, the report said that till August 18, 2022, the number of confirmed Covid-19 cases was1.56 million with 1.52 million recoveries and 30,544 deaths. It said that in a recent US-Pak health dialogue, the US committed to donating 16 million doses of vaccine to Pakistan. An additional $20 million was also pledged by USAID to support Pakistan’s vaccination efforts.

The dialogue also highlighted the donation of four mobile testing laboratories by the US that would augment Pakistan’s capacity in diagnosing Covid-19 and other communicable diseases, especially in remote areas. The USAID will also undertake new programmes in Pakistan under Global Health Security Agenda.

It was also decided to strengthen cooperation between the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP). The US Centre for Disease Control will also help the National Institute of Health, Islamabad, in strengthening the disease data centre in Pakistan. The US also appreciated Pakistan’s campaign for polio eradication and reiterated its commitment to continue its support against the crippling disease.

The report said that the economic outlook of Pakistan was surrounded by global and domestic uncertainties. Geopolitical tensions remain unabated, worldwide inflation remains high, interest rates show tendencies to rise and the US dollar strengthens. “Pakistan is, therefore, facing increasing challenges on the external front. Domestically, the government has taken necessary measures to comply with the requirements of the International Monetary Fund, which further increased inflation. However, these steps have positive effects on alleviating the external financing constraints,” it added.

“The recent floods caused by abnormally heavy monsoon rains in Pakistan adversely affected important and minor crops, which might impact the economic outlook through agriculture performance,” said the report, available with WealthPK.

Credit : Independent News Pakistan-WealthPk