ISLAMABAD – Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) has been ranked topamong globally acclaimed unconditional cash transfer programs throughRevised Proxy Means Test (PMT) Formula.
“The simulated results show that using the revised PMT formula willsubstantially increase targeting performance and 60.2 percent beneficiarieswill be from the bottom quintile, as compared to 48 percent in the oldformula of 2010, while 87.5% wouldbe from the bottom 2 quintiles as compared to 75 percent previously – i.e.a remarkable increase of 12.5 percentage points,” saida press release.
This is a simulated result but once the National Socio Economic Registry(NSER) update is completed and the administrative data validates thispercentage, it would bring BISP to the top rank among globally acclaimedunconditional cash transfer programs.
Terming it a great success, Chairperson BISP Marvi Memon said, “We havebeen continuously putting efforts to ensure transparency in the programme,and becoming the pride of Pakistan.”
She said, “I am pleased that the efforts have borne fruit and we have movedfrom being number five (in 2010) to number one(in 2018).”
She further hoped that the increased targeting performance will lead toenhance and focus poverty eradication efforts.In 2016, the BISP started an extensive consultative process, with thesupport of global experts, which led to the revision of the PMT formulawith several additional features to improve its performance.
These features included Improved Welfare Indicator, ExcludingNon-Verifiable Indicators, Location Effect and Interaction Effects.
Secretary BISP Omar Hamid Khan said he considered it as yet another successof the BISP team, adding “the entire staffand management has continuously put efforts for the betterment of the BISPfamily.”He said this exercise showed how BISP was engaged in testing all itsefforts through piloting and simulations before field experience to removeany policy glitches in future.
“The revised PMT formula bases poverty measures on expenditure per adultequivalent (instead of per capita) since it takes into account householddemographic structure in the calculation of the welfare aggregate.”
Moreover, the previous PMT formula included indicators of household head’seducational attainment and children’s enrollmentin school that are not easily observable and verifiable. Hence, the updatedformula excludes them and includes an indicator of adults’ literacy, whichis less prone to measurement error and misreporting.
Further, it has been observed that geographical location is an importantdeterminant of poverty.
To capture these effects, the PMT formula now includes indicators of urbanstatus, according to the definition used bythe Pakistan Bureau ofStatistics.
The formula also includes indicators of agro-climatic zones of Pakistan.This is expected to reduce the “rural bias” whichwas observed in the previous formula.
The previous formula was allocating the same weight to demographics,dwelling characteristics, durables and productiveassets in the calculation of the PMT score for all households of Pakistan,irrespective of their characteristics or location.
The revised formula incorporates interactions between urban status andagro-climatic zones, and these interactions are significantly betterpredictors of consumption.This sets BISP as being an international best practice in safety nets.
Marvi Memon termed it a goal of the PML-N government, and added “moreaccurate the targeting, the more credible thesocial safety.”
She expressed satisfaction over the BISP’s efforts and credibility to servethe needy and said “real poor of Pakistanhave finally been recognized.” – APP