Egypt's conditional cash transfer programmes Karama and Takaful reached half-a-million poor Egyptian families last month, state-news agency MENA reported on Tuesday, citing Minister of Social Solidarity Ghada Waly. The cash aid, which is supported by a $400 million World Bank loan to Egypt, was disbursed starting April 2015 in the Upper Egyptian provinces of Assiut and Sohag, before being expanded to cover other governorates. Takaful pays each family EGP325 in addition to EGP60-LE100 per child on a monthly basis on the condition of school attendance and regular health checkups, while Karama pays each elderly or disabled person LE350 per month. The programmes aim to reach 1.5 million poor families in a country where the poverty rate is above 26 percent. The Egyptian government has allocated EGP 11.2 billion ($1.3 billion) and another EGP 1 billion ($114 million) from the World Bank funds for the programmes in the new fiscal year's budget, Deputy Minister of Finance Ahmed Kojak said in a statement on Sunday. The ministry will also allocate EGP 7 billion ($795 million) for social security pensions, said Kojak. Source: Ahram Online
