[ad_1]
Poor families, those treated with economic assistance are facing more difficulties recently, due to the rising cost of living due to high prices, but also to them the government allocated less funds in the first 5 months of the year.
Official data from the Ministry of Finance show that the payment of economic assistance marked an annual decline of 2% during January-May 2022.
In the government fiscal data it is reported that in 5 months in the item “Economic Assistance” were spent 9.4 billion from 9.7 billion ALL that were given in the same period last year.
Funding for poor households came down at a time when average beneficiary payments are well below the relative poverty line of ($ 5.5 per day), ignoring recommendations from international financial institutions such as the IMF and the World Bank to increase aid to this category.
However, among the various reports it is seen that the real benefits of economic assistance are very low. For example, the Ministry of Health and Social Protection, which manages the entire economic assistance program, reported that last year 6.4 billion ALL were spent, while for the same period INSTAT reports an even lower value.
Treating the poorest in the country in this way comes at a time when Albania tops the European ranking for the highest percentage of people in poverty.
Local economics experts and financial institutions said the government spends very little funding on the needy. Earlier this month, the International Monetary Fund in the concluding statement of the mission in our country, said that, “The 2022 budget (as revised in March) has enough space to support citizens and the economy.”
The unprecedented rise in prices is expected to lead to poverty for other families. Last month the price of oil increased annually by 29%, dairies were 18% more than a year ago and bread cost 19% more. These products are the basis of consumption in poor households.
On the other hand, the amount of economic assistance in the first 5 months of 2022, payments for economic assistance, in relation to total budget expenditures, reached the lowest level since 2018. Funds allocated for this item were 4.4% of total expenditures budget, by 4.6% in the same period of 2021.
The data show that budget expenditures have generally increased more than payments to the poor, and the decline should be even greater due to high inflation during this period.
Average prices in the 4 months 2022 increased by 5% and at least with that the economic assistance fund for poor families has been devalued, further emphasizing the decline compared to previous years.
Although the Albanian government paid an expensive loan to reform the economic aid fund in 2014, to increase payments to families who really deserve it, payments still remain below the level of relative poverty./Monitor.al
top channel
[ad_2]
Source link
