Minister of Finance and Public Enterprises, Iipumbu Shiimi has increased the social safety nets payout for the financial year 2023/24.

On Wednesday when he presented the budget statement for the year 2023/24, he said these increases are meant to guard against the erosion of purchasing power for those in the social safety nets.

“Provision has been made in this budget to increase the monthly old age grant and the disability grant, as well as the orphan and vulnerable children grant, by N.dollars 100 per month,” Shiimi stated.

This means the old age grant and the disability grant will now be N.dollars 1 400, up from N.dollars 1 300, while the orphan and vulnerable children grant will be increased from N.dollars 250 per month to N.dollars 350, effective 01 April 2023.

The minister said they have availed N.dollars 69.8 million to expand the coverage of the orphan and vulnerable children grant by accommodating about 30 000 eligible children currently on the waiting list.

The disability grant for beneficiaries under the age of 18 years was increased from N.dollars 250 to N.dollars 1 400 per month.

“Going forward, resources permitting, it is our consideration to gradually increase the quantum of social assistance outlays towards children to improve the utilisation of safety nets as a tool to promote human capital development and ensure the intergenerational equity of social protection,” he said.

The monthly conditional income grant for former food bank recipients remains the same as it was increased from N.dollars 500 to N.dollars 600 in October 2022 to cushion them against rising food prices.

The 2023/24 total national budget is N.dollars 84.6 billion, up from N.dollars 61.6 billion in the 2022/23 financial year.

Source: The Namibian Press Agency