ISLAMABAD: The Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) has announced to have increased by 28.57 percent its quarterly stipend for Kafaalat beneficiaries—from 10,500 to 13,500 rupees.
In this context, a ceremony was held at the BISP quarters attended by Chairperson Rubina Khalid, Secretary Amer Ali Ahmad and other senior BISP officials, an official statement said on Wednesday.
The increase in the BISP stipend comes after a year. The former caretaker federal government increased BISP’s quarterly stipend for Kafaalat beneficiaries from Rs8,750 to Rs10,500 last January.
Last September, BISP announced that the quarterly stipend for quarterly beneficiaries would be increased to Rs13,500 by January 2025 (this month), and that the number of Kifaalat beneficiaries would be increased from 9.3 million to 10 million this year.
It merits mentioning here that BISP has seen an increase of 27 percent in the ongoing financial year. Last June, the federal government increased from Rs471.23 billion to Rs598.71 billion the BISP’s annual budget for this FY 2024-25—effective from 1 July 2024 to 30 June 2025.
Compared to this fiscal year, last fiscal year’s budget initially showed an increase of slightly 10 percent compared to previous financial year—from Rs408 billion to Rs450 billion. Later, this figure was revised upward to Rs471 billion, showing 15.5 percent increase compared to previous fiscal year.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
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