Details of bank accounts: Sharing not feasible, SBP governor tells cabinet

State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) Governor Dr Reza Baqir has made it clear to the Cabinet that sharing of bank accounts' details of customers with deposits of over Rs 50,000 is not feasible.

He made these remarks at the federal cabinet meeting held on April, 7, 2020 during discussion on distribution of Rs 144 billion amongst the poor families under Ehsaas Programme.

Governor State Bank of Pakistan highlighted that the request by Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety Division/Nadra to provide data relating to accounts, with deposits larger than Rs.50,000, for the purpose of data analytics, was not legally tenable. He, however, assured fullest support to ensure that required bank branches remained open to facilitate disbursements.

A member of the Cabinet expressed concern over the fate of the applicants, who despite being short-listed as deserving, failed the biometric identification for one reason or the other. It was suggested that the disbursements be staggered as far as possible to avert any law and order situation. It was clarified that in case a beneficiary failed biometric identification he/she would be referred to Appeals/Helpline queue and assistance amount would be disbursed after verification. As for the law and order situation, the provincial governments had been requested to make fool proof security arrangements during disbursements.

The members informed the Cabinet about requests for assistance from various segments of society such as Masajid Imams, Lawyers, Afghan Refugees, Railway Coolies etc. The Prime Minister agreed to write to UNHCR soliciting financial assistance to help the Afghan Refugees but clarified that it is not possible for the government to cover all sections of the society. However, he suggested that if members can bring specific feasible proposals, the same could be considered.

The issue of substandard quality of commodities at Utility Stores was also highlighted. Secretary Industries assured that standard quality is being ensured by the MD, USC and funds allocated to the Corporation were being timely released.

Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Health, Dr. Zafar Mirza informed that Pakistan would have 2500 critical cases by 25th April 2020. The members were also apprised that testing capacity was being increased and the strategy of "Tracking, Testing and Quarantine" was being developed.

Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Social Protection and Poverty Alleviation briefed the Cabinet on Ehsaas Emergency Cash Relief in response to Coronavirus. Following are the highlights of the presentation: (i) the program aims to provide one-time assistance to 12 million families by distributing Rs. 12,000 per family.

The total budget set for it is Rs. 144 billion ;(ii) lessons from International experience for large one-off cash injections are that unconditional cash transfer programs have a much lower cost per beneficiary than in-kind food distribution and benefit the local economy for each $1 equivalent provided to beneficiaries. Vouchers generated up to $1.50 of indirect market benefits while cash transfer programs generated more than $2 of indirect assistance and they work best within an existing ecosystem and when combined with aggressive communication market benefits.

Giving the breakup of 12 million beneficiaries of relief assistance, it was explained that 4.5 million would be existing beneficiaries of Kafaalat program, 4 million would be added to the database as a result of relaxation in criteria, and 3 million would be included from the lists being prepared by the District Administration after running these through data analytics.

It was revealed that as of April 7, 2020, a total of 26,597,976 inquiries were received through SMS, out of which 5,198,509 beneficiaries had been identified, 915,610 were ineligible and 706,562 had invalid CNIC numbers.

The risks associated with the scheme were identified. Measures to mitigate the risks and their dependencies were also presented. These are as follows: (i) Provincial discordance in schemes will create space for collusion at the level of the retailer due to conflicting messaging (Rs. 4000, vs, Rs. 12,000) and people will be conned. Duplication and reputational risk; (ii) whole exercise may be discredited as being biased, politically tilted;(iii) spread of Corona virus due to large gatherings on ground, hygienic measures are ignored;(iv) retail points of sale are not willing to participate and/or are not open and/or don't have liquidity. Banks are reluctant to open branches. Retail points of sale not open; (v) desperate people on the street, large cash movement , people leaving POS with cash in hand all add up to a security risk and ;(vi) inclusion error.