ISLAMABAD: The Ministry of Finance has proposed an allocation of Rs 716 billion for the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) in the upcoming budget against Rs 592.48 billion allocated in the outgoing fiscal year.
It indicates a 20 percent increase in the proposed allocation for the BISP programme. Top officials in the Finance Division confirmed to The News on Monday that the expenditure side remained one of the major stumbling blocks in the way of striking an agreement on the budgetary figures for the next fiscal year. However, the funding for the BISP is all set to be increased by almost 20 percent. The bill of debt servicing has not yet been reconciled between the IMF and Pakistani negotiators.
Increased allocation of the BISP will allow an increase in Unconditional Cash Transfer (UCT) Kafaalat programme benefits to adjust for anticipated annual inflation in 2025, allowing an increase in the quarterly benefit from Rs 13,500 to Rs 14,500 beginning in January 2026 under the agreed condition of the IMF.
It will also allow BISP to maintain the total number of enrolled households at 10 million. Ministry of Finance made commit to the IMF for continued annual inflation adjustments for UCT benefits to ensure that the most vulnerable households’ purchasing power remains at a minimum constant in real terms in coming years; and (ii) readjust UCT benefits upon the release of any new household surveys to continue transfers equivalent to 15 percent of the bottom quintile’s consumption once this threshold is reached.
The BISP is working closely with the World Bank to enhance education and health and nutrition conditional cash transfer (CCT) programmes, and with provinces to avoid overlap of BISP and provincial CCT programmes; the FY26 budget will keep spending on these programmes constant as a share of GDP.
From July to February FY25, the BISP disbursed Rs 347 billion, representing an 82.6 percent increase over the previous year, against a full-year allocation of Rs 592.5 billion.
Energy subsidies have been restructured to target the bottom 40 percent of the population, thereby ensuring fiscal savings without compromising social equity. Meanwhile, comprehensive rationalisation of public administration is underway, involving streamlining of over 43 ministries and 400 departments
The World Bank is engaging with the Power Ministry and BISP to develop (1) a method to identify electricity consumers by income rather than consumption level and a transfer mechanism that could replace the current energy subsidy frameworks.
The BISP is working closely with the World Bank to refine BISP administrative systems. Efforts are underway for keeping the NSER live and covering all of Pakistan’s poor; keeping BISP enrollment open; and administering the regular re-declaration of BISP beneficiaries’ status on the intended three-year cycle.
The BISP will continue to gradually expand the new electronic payment model, which will allow greater choice for beneficiaries. They will have bank accounts, which will enable beneficiaries to build savings, in place in pilot districts by the first quarter of FY26.
The BISP is continuing its efforts to enroll interested UCT Kafaalat families into the two CCT programmes, as it exceeded the FY25 education CCT enrollment target of 10.4 million by 400,000, and is on track to achieve its nutrition CCT target of 2.1 million.
