Egypt plans single cash transfer system for combating poverty
Egypt plans to launch a new social protection system to help the poor, which would include merging a social security safety-net plan with the program known as Takaful and Karama.
As Egypt’s poor fall between the anvil of low income and the hammer of price hikes, social protection programs become increasingly deemed as a vehicle for ensuring social and political stability.
To this end, the Egyptian authorities plan to launch a new social protection system as of August to help the poor make ends meet as part of a new law for cash subsidies. The bill, which is expected to be passed by parliament later this month, will amalgamate all of the country’s cash-subsidy schemes into the Takaful and Karama program.
Takaful and Karama is designed as a national targeted social safety-net mechanism to protect the poor through income support. The Egyptian government and the World Bank signed a $400 million agreement for funding the program in 2015.
According to the World Bank’s website, the program has covered to date 2.26 million households, amounting to around 9.4 million individuals, or roughly 10% of Egypt’s population.
