The government plans to raise fund allocation and number of senior citizen beneficiaries, widows, and disabled persons for ensuring social security in upcoming budget fiscal year (FY) 2023-24.
According to sources in the Ministry of Finance, a proposal has been made to create a fund of Tk 1.19 lakh crore for the poor and backward communities.
The Finance Ministry has started preparing to increase the allocation of funds by 5 percent more with the current allocation in the social security sector.
In the national budget for the current fiscal year 2022-2023, the government has created a fund of Tk 1.13 lakh crore for social safety-net program, which was 2.55 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
A senior official of the Finance Ministry said considering the upcoming elections and the current economic crisis, the government is going to increase this fund in the upcoming budget.
He said the government is constantly increasing the scope of the social safety net to reduce poverty and inequality.
Multifaceted programs are being conducted to fulfill the basic needs of the poor, helpless and marginalized people who are backward in the society, he mentioned. That is why the government is keeping a separate allocation for social security and increasing the amount of allowance and the number of beneficiaries every year, he added.
He said that the government will increase the allocation in the coming budget as well. There are plans to increase the amount of allowance by at least Tk 100 to meet the ongoing inflation and basic needs.
Although there was an attempt to increase the allocation further, but the government has limitations in increasing the allocation more simultaneously.
According to Ministry sources, the social safety net program in Bangladesh includes widows, elderly population, physically challenged, mothers, freedom fighters, retired civil servants and so on.
In addition, cash-based social security measures include Food for Work (Kabikha), Money for Work (Kabita), sale of goods in the open market and stipends for students.
According to the sources of the Department of Social Services, in the current fiscal year, Tk 57.10 lakh elderly people were given allowance at the rate of Tk 500 per person per month.
The government has allocated Tk 3,444.54 crore for this sector in the current fiscal.
According to the proposal in the next budget, the beneficiary allowance will be increased from Tk 500 to Tk 600.
At the same time, there is a proposal to increase the allocation of Tk 761 crore by increasing the number of beneficiaries to 58 lakh.
On the other hand, in the fiscal year 2022-23, a total of 24.75 lakh widows and widowed women were given allowance at the rate of Tk 500 per person per month.
For which Tk 1,495.40 crore has been allocated.
The government is going to raise it to Tk 600 per person in the next budget proposal. At the same time, an additional allocation of Tk 216 crore is being prepared in the next budget to increase the number of beneficiaries.
Apart from this, there is a possibility of providing additional funds of Tk 550 crore in the next budget from the current allocation of the government for disabled and physically challenged people.
Under which the number of beneficiaries is likely to increase from 23.65 lakh to 29 lakh.
At present, Tk 2,429.18 crore has been allocated in this fund. There is a proposal to increase the amount of allowance in the next budget.
However, the size of the proposed budget for the upcoming fiscal year 2023-2024 is likely going to be about 7,60,000 crore, which is about 15.20 percent of the total GDP and about Tk 82,000 crore more than the budget of the current fiscal year 2022-2023.
In the current fiscal year 2022-2023, the size of the budget was Tk 6,78,064 crore which was about 15.38 percent of the total GDP and around Tk 74,383 crore more than the budget of 2021-2022 fiscal.
On the other hand, the government is likely to set a target to collect Tk 5,00,000 crore as revenue in the upcoming budget 2023-24 fiscal year, the sources said.
Of the revenue collection target, the National Board of Revenue (NBR) will collect Tk 4,33,000 crore, up 16.20 percent or about Tk 63,000 crore over the previous fiscal amounting to Tk 3,70,000 crore and another Tk 67,000 crore will be collected from other sources, they mentioned.
Earlier, Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal presented the Tk 678,064 crore national budget for the fiscal year 2022-23, with the theme "Return to the Path of Development Leaving the Covid-19 Behind" to overcome the impact of coronavirus pandemic and Russia-Ukraine war on the economy.
The revenue target was set at Tk4.33 lakh crore, while the budget deficit was Tk2.42 lakh crore or 5.4 percent of GDP.
