ISLAMABAD: The federal government has proposed to allocate Rs716 billion for the Benazir Income Support Program (BISP) in the budget for the fiscal year 2025-26, which is 21 percent more than the previous year. The aim of this initiative is to lift the marginalized sections of Pakistan out of poverty and provide economic security.
Finance Minister Senator Muhammad Aurangzeb, while delivering the budget speech in the National Assembly, said that the government is committed to expanding the coverage of the Benazir Income Support Program. Under this objective, the BISP sponsorship program will be expanded to 10 million deserving families. Financial assistance to 9.9 million families, expansion of educational scholarships for children The Finance Minister said that during the fiscal year 2024-25, BISP allocated Rs592 billion, through which unconditional financial assistance was provided to 9.9 million deserving families. Along with this, 11.6 million children were provided with educational scholarships, which also improved the education sector.
The government’s goal for the next financial year is to further expand the educational scholarship program so that more than 12 million children can benefit from it. Nutritional support for women and children through the Nashwa program Muhammad Aurangzeb said that under the BISP Nashwa program, 1.5 million mothers and their 1.6 million children were provided with cash assistance as well as special nutritional food so that the development of children in areas suffering from malnutrition could be improved. Training for financial inclusion, efforts to make women self-sufficient
The Finance Minister also announced that 250,000 female beneficiaries were given financial literacy training to promote financial inclusion, with the aim of empowering them economically. Government’s commitment: Comprehensive and effective social protection system During his budget speech, the finance minister said, “Our government is committed to protecting the most vulnerable sections of society through a comprehensive and effective social protection system.”