KARACHI, Aug 2: Federal Finance Minister Syed Naveed Qamar sought the help of five major banks on Saturday to introduce the Benazir Income Support Programme for the poor across the country, and a mechanism is expected to be finalised in his meeting with bank officials on Tuesday.Banking sources told Dawn that the finance minister held a detailed meeting with heads of five major banks – National Bank of Pakistan, MCB Bank, Allied Bank Limited, United Bank Limited and Habib Bank Limited.

The Governor, State Bank of Pakistan, Dr Shamshad Akhtar, also attended the meeting in which the monetary policy and economic situation of the country was discussed in addition to the modalities to distribute the amount under the programme.

Bankers said that the minister wants to launch the scheme on Aug 14.

The minister underlined the need for transparency and stressed that the needy and deserving people should get support under the programme.

The amount allocated for this scheme could be around Rs30 billion, said a banker, adding no final figure had been given to banks.

The federal finance minister had stated in his budget speech that the government would initially provide an amount of Rs34 billion under the programme, and the amount would be raised to Rs50 billion.

The bankers were hopeful that they would get the major share of the programme and most of the transactions would be carried out through the branches of these five banks.Benazir Income Support Programme was launched for protecting the vulnerable from the price-hike.

A cash grant of Rs1,000 per month would be given to each qualifying household and the selection would be made through computerised database of the National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) under a set criteria.

The banker said that the government would face a real difficulty in rural areas where bank branches are less in number.

“For this purpose, microfinance banks have also been included in this scheme,” said the banker.

Bankers said that the post offices network would be more useful in rural areas as it covers a large portion of the country.

The minister was given a list of branches of all five banks and areas where they are located.

According to the scheme, the beneficiaries of the Benazir Card would also be provided other welfare facilities, like employment, skill development training for family youth, medical insurance and food subsidy.

In addition, the poor would be supported through the Baitul Mal, and food items would continue to be provided to them at subsidised rates through the Utility Stores Corporation. The USC’s network would be expanded to 6,000 outlets.