The consumption expenditure pattern for various commodity groups shows a consistent trend between 2007-08 and 2010-11. The government followed a sustained poverty reduction strategy to provide some social protection following high inflation. Expenditure on pro-poor sector in the first six months of the current fiscal year was Rs 919.564 billion.
The government also spent Rs 7.151 million on justice administration to provide speedy justice to the poor for the first six months of the current year. The government dismantled a food support programme with zero allocation in current fiscal year.
Since its inception till March 2012, the government distributed Rs 122 billion among 4 million recipients, including flood and bomb blast victims, under Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP), Pakistan Economic Survey 2011-12 said. BISP beneficiaries are targeted to increase to 7 million families by June 30 this year after the ongoing processing of data collected during a nation-wide poverty survey was completed. Under this survey, over 27 million households would be covered nation-wide.
During 2011-12, Rs 24.1 billion were distributed among approximately 3.5 million recipients till March 2012. This included over Rs 3.95 billion paid through Smart Cards to 182,789 recipients and Rs 826.38 million paid to about 1.3 million recipients via mobile phone banking. The rest of the cash transfers were made through Pakistan Post. So far, 92,000 Debit Cards have been distributed and an amount of Rs 1.02 billion were disbursed to the beneficiaries.
As a consequence of the 18th Amendment, the subject of Zakat was devolved to the provinces and federal areas. Till February this year, a total of Rs 3.668 billion was distributed among the provinces and other administrative areas.
The government spent Rs 2.222 billion between July 2011-December 2011 on Peoples Works Programme I & II. Employees'' Old Age Benefits Institutions provided Rs 7.961 million to 350,485 beneficiaries in the first nine months of the current fiscal year. The major spending under the head of Workers'' Welfare Fund (WWF) during the first three quarters of the current fiscal year was Rs 2.539 billion. Around 46 housing schemes were completed, benefiting 15,000 families.
The government prioritised 17 pro-poor sectors through the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework in the PRSP-II, which provides a link between policy priorities and budget realties. During 2010-2011, total expenditures for these sectors amounted to Rs 1,245.541 billion, which is 6.9 percent of GDP. The government is also encouraging microfinance industry in three broad categories - micro credit, micro-savings and micro-insurance. Active borrowers reached 1,969,236. The number of disbursed loans is around 1800,262 and the loaned amount reached Rs 26.741 billion.