ISLAMABAD: Some 60 billion rupees have been disbursed, so far, in the third quarter (January-March) among over 5.7 million women Kafaalat beneficiaries under Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP).

The quarterly stipend tranche for January to March started on March 11, and will continue till the completion of the disbursement to targeted beneficiaries, a BISP spokesperson told Business Recorder on Tuesday.

As many as 9.279 million beneficiaries were generated for pay-out of Rs 97.435 billion Kafaalat programme, under this quarterly stipend cycle, the spokesperson said.

Till date, around 62.21 per cent payments had been made with 5.773 million beneficiary families served, he added.

Simultaneously, a one-time Rs2000 cash transfer per family to deserving families registered with BISP that recorded Proxy Means Test (PMT) score below 38 is also being made in Balochistan, Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), Gilgit-Baltistan (GB), and Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT). The selection was based on the governments concerned in these areas not announcing any Ramazan package in the ongoing Islamic month, the spokesperson added.

So far, 387,396 beneficiaries had been served in Balochistan, AJK, GB and ICT, he added.

BISP says it is also collaborating with provincial governments and data is being shared with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh governments, in particular, for Ramazan schemes of their respective provinces.

Last month, BISP increased its quarterly stipend from Rs 9000 to Rs 10,500 per beneficiary for Kafaalat programme.

The 16-month Shehbaz Sharif-led former federal government budgeted Rs 471 budget for 2023-24 including Rs 361.5 billion for 9.3 million Kafaalat beneficiaries.

As a tentative estimate, till date, over Rs 270 billion have been disbursed in the ongoing fiscal year to Kafaalat beneficiaries in the three quarterly stipend cycles—July-September, October-December and January-March. The fourth and final quarterly stipend cycle (April-June) for outgoing FY 2023-24 starts next month.

BISP, last month, increased the number of commercial banks for the payment of stipends to Kafaalat initiative from two to six.

The six banks through which the Kafaalat beneficiaries receive stipends are: Bank Alfalah, Bank of Punjab, Mobilink Microfinance Bank, Telenor Microfinance Bank, Habib Bank Limited and HBL Microfinance Bank.

Previously, the quarterly stipends to Kafaalat beneficiaries were paid through Bank Alfalah and Habib Bank only.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024