Prime Minister Imran Khan has lauded Special Assistant to Prime Minister (SAPM) on Poverty Alleviation Sania Nishtar, after the Ehsaas Cash Programme achieved recognition from World Bank (WB).

“Congratulations to Sania Nishtar and the Ehsaas team for achieving this milestone and well-deserved international recognition,” said Prime Minister Imran Khan on social media.

World Bank has recognized Pakistan’s government Ehsaas Emergency Cash program among the top four social protection interventions globally in terms of number of people covered.

As per World Bank’s latest report titled Social Protection and Jobs Responses to COVID-19: A Real-Time Review of Country Measures, India’s Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) program with over 206 million individuals covered, is the largest Covid-related cash transfer scheme worldwide. Such program is followed by three cash transfer interventions all reaching over a hundred million people, namely the US first stimulus check (160 million), Japan’s one-off universal program reaching about (116.5), and Pakistan’s Ehsaas (100.9).

The report stated that Pakistan was also among the top 5 lower-middle-income countries by level of social protection spending. The highest level of spending in lower-middle-income countries is observed in Mongolia (8% of GDP), Zimbabwe (5%), Bolivia (3%), Pakistan (1.2%), and with a range of others spending 1% of GDP.