BISP gets Rs838 billion for FY27, falling Rs20.8 billion short of IMF-linked requirement

The federal government has allocated Rs. 838 billion to the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) for the fiscal year 2026-27, an increase of around 17% from the allocation shown for the outgoing year in federal budget documents.

However, the new allocation is Rs20.8 billion below the estimated Rs858.8 billion required to fulfil Pakistan’s commitment to the IMF to raise the quarterly Kafaalat stipend for 10.2 million beneficiaries.

According to the IMF’s latest report on Pakistan, the government committed to increasing the quarterly Kafaalat payment from Rs14,500 to Rs18,000 per beneficiary from January 2027.

The proposed increase of Rs3,500 per quarter would require an additional Rs142.8 billion annually for 10.2 million beneficiaries.

Based on an outgoing-year allocation of Rs716 billion, the total BISP budget would therefore need to rise to around Rs858.8 billion in FY27, representing an increase of nearly 20%.

The Rs838 billion allocation included in the new budget reflects growth of only around 17%.

Official records continue to show different figures for BISP’s allocation in fiscal year 2025-26.

Federal budget documents list the programme’s original allocation at Rs716 billion, later revised down to Rs706 billion. However, the Pakistan Economic Survey 2025-26 reported BISP’s allocation for the outgoing year at Rs722.49 billion.

Other government documents have variously placed the figure at Rs716 billion and Rs722 billion.

The first review of Pakistan’s IMF programme, released in May 2025, recorded the FY26 BISP budget at Rs716 billion. Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb also cited the same figure during his budget speech in the National Assembly last year.

More detailed Finance Ministry documents, however, showed Rs716.61 billion under operating expenses and a total BISP allocation of Rs722.48 billion.

The Rs722.48 billion figure represented an increase of more than 20% from the Rs598.71 billion provided to the programme in FY2024-25.

The variation in official figures makes the exact increase in the FY27 allocation dependent on which outgoing-year estimate is used. Compared with Rs716 billion, the Rs838 billion allocation reflects growth of about 17%, while the increase is smaller when measured against Rs722.48 billion.