BISP audit finds identification issues in Rs25.7bn payments — The Express Tribune
In Pakistan, an audit of the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) for the 2024–2025 financial year identified problems in aid recipients’ data, payments to people who did not meet the programme’s criteria, and duplication of education stipends. As The Express Tribune reports, the total amount of payments in 601,850 cases with identification issues was Rs25.699 billion.
Problems with recipient identification
According to the report of the Auditor General of Pakistan, in 5,598 cases, the CNIC of one spouse was linked to the records of up to seven women. Payments in these cases totalled Rs239.035 million.
Another 596,252 records lacked CNIC data for recipients’ spouses. Payments of Rs25.460 billion were linked to such profiles. The audit requested explanations from Pakistan’s National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) and recommended independently verifying marital links.
During the financial year, the programme covered 10.02 million active households. The programme’s inclusion error rate was 6.8%, against a set benchmark of 5%, while the exclusion error rate was 13.27%, compared with an allowable 10%.
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Payments and education stipends
The audit also found that 12,078 public-sector employees, pensioners and their spouses received Rs515.712 million, although a federal cabinet decision from December 2019 excluded them from the programme. In another 261 cases involving recipients or their spouses who travelled abroad, payments totalled Rs13.041 million.
In addition, auditors recorded 97,179 cases with multiple Proxy Means Test indicators for one household head during the established period. According to the audit’s assessment, this may have led to the improper enrolment of 18,964 recipients and the potential misallocation of Rs533.536 million.
In a sample of 275,000 cases in Islamabad, 1,719 recipients were identified as owning vehicles above the limits set by the programme and received Rs69.744 million. Under the Benazir Taleemi Wazaif programme, 165 schools already receiving full state assistance through Pakistan Baitul Mal were also registered in the BISP scheme, resulting in duplicated stipends worth Rs17.690 million.
Another 278 public-sector employees were registered as high school students instead of their children or other persons eligible for assistance. Conditional payments to their mothers totalled Rs202.546 million.
