The PML N government, for the second consecutive year, has ruled out the possibility of pro-poor spending under the Benazir Income Support Programme, and spent Rs91.8 billion by fiscal year end, depriving around 300,000 families from the promised monthly cash stipends.
It also could not live up to its promise of giving Rs1,500 monthly cash stipend to as many as 5.3 million eligible families, as the actual number of beneficiaries remained at 5 million.
As of June 30, the last day of fiscal year 2015, spending under BISP stood at Rs91.7 billion.
This amount includes bank charges and administrative expenses on running the programme, according to documents of the BISP Secretariat. The actual unconditional cash transfers to the poorest of the poor stood at Rs86.8 billion.
For fiscal year 2014-15, the government had allocated Rs97.2 billion for BISP.