The government is setting aside Tk 1,45,000 crore in the next fiscal year’s programme for social safety net schemes, up 14.4 percent year-on-year, with about 9.7 percent of the sum going towards the BNP’s flagship Family Card programme.

Next year’s social safety net allocation is 2.1 percent of GDP and around 16 percent of the proposed budget. This year, 1.87 percent of GDP or 14.78 percent of the budget went towards the social safety net.

In fiscal 2026-27, the number of social safety net programmes will be trimmed to 90 from 95 at present, The Daily Star has learnt from finance ministry officials involved with the proceedings.

Of the 90 programmes, 45 will be categorised as pro-poor, with allocations of just over Tk 55,000 crore. This fiscal year, there are 38 such programmes with allocations of Tk 39,000 crore.

As many as 1 crore new beneficiaries are expected to come on board through six new programmes tied to the BNP’s electoral pledges.

The largest of these is the Family Card programme, for which 1 crore households will be surveyed to select 41 lakh families. Each family will receive Tk 2,500 per month, which will cost Tk 14,000 crore next fiscal year.

Those selected for the Family Card programme cannot be beneficiaries of other social safety net programmes.

To prevent duplication of beneficiaries, an effective database will be developed that contains the names, addresses, and contact information of beneficiaries.

About Tk 1,400 crore will go towards the distribution of 42.5 lakh Farmers’ Card, another flagship programme of the BNP. Each beneficiary would receive a yearly payment of Tk 2,500.

As many as 15,669 victims from the July uprising would get allowances ranging from Tk 10,000 to Tk 20,000 every month based on three categories of injury, while the families of 844 July martyrs would receive Tk 20,000 every month as honorariums.

Allocation will also be given for monthly honorariums and festival allowances to religious leaders of different faiths, one of the election pledges of the BNP to promote religious and social harmony.

The programme will have 255,666 beneficiaries next fiscal year, including imams, muezzins, khadems, priests, monks and caretakers of temples, churches and monasteries.

Imams would receive Tk 5,000, muezzins Tk 3,000 and khadems Tk 2,000. Similar stipends would be given to priests, monks and caretakers of temples, churches, and monasteries.

A new programme under the Vulnerable Group Feeding (VGF) scheme will provide cash equivalent to 110,000 tonnes of rice to 15 lakh poor working people under an integrated policy.

Another programme will provide 15,000 unemployed workers with a monthly allowance of Tk 5,000 for up to three months, which will cost about Tk 25 crore.

Among the existing programmes, the number of beneficiaries of old-age and widow allowances is being increased by 100,000 each, and the allowance is being raised by Tk 50 to Tk 700 per month. Currently, 61 lakh people receive old-age allowance and 29 lakh receive widow allowance.

The disability allowance is being increased by Tk 100 to reach Tk 1,000 per month. On the other hand, the number of beneficiaries is being increased by about 250,000 to 38 lakh.

The education allowance for students with disabilities is being increased from Tk 1,000 to Tk 1,400.

In addition, the number of beneficiaries under the mother and child support programme is being increased by more than 100,000. However, the allowance remains at Tk 850.

In the upcoming budget, the allocation for financial assistance in the treatment of serious diseases like cancer, kidney and liver ailments will be increased to Tk 700 crore, and the maximum assistance may rise to Tk 1 lakh from the existing Tk 50,000.

For freedom fighters, the number of beneficiaries and allowances will remain the same, but only the categories of Bir Shreshtha, Bir Uttam, Bir Bikram and Bir Protik will see their allowances increase by Tk 5,000.

Currently, these allowances range from Tk 20,000 to Tk 35,000 per month. At present, 589 individuals across these four categories receive allowances.

Meanwhile, on June 11, along with the budget for fiscal 2026–27, a separate social safety net budget document will be published outlining the five-year plan and detailed strategies for the social protection sector, the finance ministry officials said.