Over Rs 123.9 billion spent on social protection so far: fifth meeting of D-10 told

Federal government has spent more than Rs 123.975 billion on social protection so far while it has released Rs 1.62 billion for pro-poor budgetary expenditure. Planning Commission of Pakistan stated this at a briefing to the fifth meeting of D-10, held here on Monday.
Finance Minister Dr Abdul Hafeez Sheikh, Deputy Chairman Planning Commission Nadeem-ul-Haq, Secretaries Cabinet Division, Inter-Provincial Co-ordination and additional Chief Secretaries of all provinces, AJK, FATA and Gilgit-Baltistan participated in the meeting. Development partners - China, Germany, Japan, UK, US, World Bank (WB), Asian Development Bank (ADB), European Unions (EU) and others attended the meeting.
The meeting was informed that Rs 108 billion have been disbursed up to March 2012 to 4.9 million females under Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) while Pakistan Bait-ul-Maal (PBM) has disbursed Rs 675 million among 11,988 beneficiaries during 2010-11. Similarly, the government has transferred Rs 3.6 billion Zakat fund to the provinces after devolution under 18th Amendment of the Constitution.
The meeting was also informed that the Employees Old-age Benefits Institution (EOBI) has disbursed Rs 11.7 billion to 0.35 million beneficiaries. About pro-poor budgetary expenditure in 2012-13, the official of the Planning Commission said that in first quarter, the government released Rs 146 million for infrastructure, Rs 829 million for human development, Rs 291 for rural development, Rs 300 for safety nets and Rs 48 million for governance.
He said that official position is that poverty is estimated to be around 22.3 percent based on Pakistan Social and Living Standards Measurement Survey (PSLM) 2005-06. He said a technical group on poverty under Deputy Chairman Planning Commission is presently reviewing issues raised with regard to data gathering and processing methodology. About poverty reduction initiatives, he said it is needed to revamp primary and secondary healthcare for all, reduce Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) and Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR). He stressed the need for strengthening legal and judicial system, improving accountability, transparency and governance.
Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) for Human Resource Development (HRD) and Employment: He said SMEs contribute 30 percent to GDP and 78 percent to non-agricultural employment. He said Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund (PPAF) provided micro loans to 297,000 community organisations (July 2011-March 2012). He said microfinance industry has 2.1 million active borrowers, which shows 13 percent increase in gross loan portfolio.