Govt to widen social safety net coverage, says ADB
The govt signed a $250m loan agreement with the Asian Development Bank to strengthen the country’s social resilience programme
The government will provide an old age allowance to more women over 62, to more widows and the socially marginalised, and destitute women in 150 poverty-stricken upazilas, the Asian Development Bank said on Tuesday.
Signed on Monday, the coverage expansion of the social safety net will be supported by a $250 million loan agreement between the bank and the government, according to an ADB press statement.
Under the agreement, the government will strengthen the inclusiveness and responsiveness of the country's social development and resilience programme.
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The reforms include increasing the coverage and efficiency of the social protection system tby improving the administrative efficiency of social protection management, says ADB.
Fatima Yasmin, secretary, Economic Relations Division (ERD), Government of Bangladesh, and Manmohan Parkash, country director, ADB, signed the loan agreement virtually (online) on behalf of their respective parties.
"A strong social protection programme, backed by the government's stimulus and incentive packages, largely contributed to the commendable 5.2% estimated GDP growth in fiscal year 2020, despite the Covid-19 pandemic," Parkash said.
"Building on our cross-sectoral experiences in inclusive and sustainable development, we will support Bangladesh in improving the efficiency, financial inclusion, consolidation, standardisation, integration, streamlining, and continuous evaluation, of the social protection system," he added.
The strengthening of the social resilience programme will include institutional and policy reforms to address cross-sector issues of social development in Bangladesh.
Apart from increasing the scope of allowance coverage, other reforms include promoting the use of mobile financial services, simplifying identification and documentation requirements for opening a bank account, and broadening the scope of social protection from mere poverty relief to life cycle social and health responses, including a social insurance system.
ADB will also provide a technical assistance grant to support programme implementation, policy analyses, and capacity development for ministries relevant to social development.
The technical assistance is estimated to be $1.2 million which will be financed as a grant from the Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction.
