Pak to offer cash aid for households under Tk18,000 monthly income
In order to avail the 'Sasta Petrol, Sasta Diesel' relief package, women with a household income of less than Tk18,000 or Rs40,000 per month would need to text their CNIC (computerised national identity card) numbers on 786 or call that number to receive around Tk900 (Rs2,000)
Pakistani Finance Minister Miftah Ismail on Saturday said that the government's relief package, which was announced by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif a day earlier, would help protect the poor people from the "storm of inflation".
In order to avail the 'Sasta Petrol, Sasta Diesel' relief package, women with a household income of less than Tk18,000 or Rs40,000 per month would need to text their CNIC (computerised national identity card) numbers on 786 or call that number to receive around Tk900 (Rs2,000).
"We cannot provide complete relief as we do not have the resources but we will do all we can to dress the wounds [of poor people," the minister said while addressing a press conference in Islamabad today.
"The relief amount would be incorporated in the upcoming budget which would be presented in the National Assembly next month," Ismail added.
The minister said the government would also augment the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP), adding that when the government reduced fuel prices in line with international rates, it would also reduce the increased relief payments.
He clarified that the relief package was not limited to motorcycle owners but included anyone whose monthly household income was below Rs40,000.
People who were already BISP beneficiaries did not need to send their details on 786 since they would automatically receive the amount, he added.
