Fast-track national social security strategy
Bangladesh should quickly implement its national social security strategy (NSSS) to ensure the maximum coverage of vulnerable people, including women and children, according to an economist.
The NSSS is a roadmap to reduce poverty that was formulated by the government in 2015.
"Although the government has taken the strategy, we are still moving slowly to address the needs of vulnerable people as well as the new poor emerging from Covid-19," said Bazlul Haque Khondker, chairman of the South Asian Network on Economic Modeling (Sanem).
Even though a long time has passed since the NSSS was formulated, the government is yet to create a digital social registry under the National Household Database, resulting in complexities for selecting the right beneficiaries.
"So, Bangladesh needs to revisit the NSSS to set a new vision or approach to social protection and it should be an inclusive one with no one left out," he added.
Khondker was speaking at a webinar on the current status of social safety net programmes in the country, organised by Sanem.
"Failure to select the right beneficiaries is a major problem as we still cannot bring those in need under social security coverage," he said.
Around 71 per cent of the existing beneficiaries are facing exclusion errors or wrong selection. Some 67 per cent of the beneficiaries in rural areas were wrongly selected while the number is 84 per cent for those in urban areas.
Currently, Bangladesh is covering around 35 per cent of its total population through more than 150 large and small schemes.
The Sanem chairman then said the average transfer amount to beneficiaries is Tk 595, which is inadequate.
"This token amount of money does not reflect the level that is expected as it is even below the poverty line," said Khondker, also a former economics professor at the University of Dhaka.
Regarding his idea for the future of social protection in Bangladesh, he said the authority should include social care as a new pillar of safety net programmes in the country when revisiting the NSSS.
The economist also said young children account for almost one in every eight poor persons but receive only 1.6 per cent of social protection expenditures.
Besides, the cost of social protection for aging people could become unsustainable with the current structure of such programmes.
"So, we need to invest more on the young and ensure long-term sustainability of programmes for the elderly," he added.
In addition, around 55 to 65 per cent of the people in vulnerable groups could be brought under social insurance such as universal schemes and unemployment insurance.
"The private sector could take the responsibility in this regard," Khondker said.
Bangladesh's current spending on social safety net programmes is around 2.5 to 3 per cent of the country's gross domestic product (GDP).
If pensions for civil servants and other forms of social assistance are excluded, then the amount being received by vulnerable people would be 1.5 to 1.7 per cent of the GDP.
However, the government needs to spend more on the administrative cost to end the wrong selection of beneficiaries.
"We are still lower in terms of coverage than the global average," he added.
The seminar was moderated by Israt Hossain, senior research associate of Sanem.
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