Nagad, the mobile financial service arm of the Postal Department, has started disbursing the Prime Minister’s financial assistance to 14.97 lakh families as an Eid gift who lost livelihood amid the Covid-19 crisis.
Each family listed by the government will receive a Tk 2,500 with the cash-out charge under the G2P (Government to People) process. Nagad will complete the disbursement before Eid, according to a press release.
On Sunday, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina launched the program from Ganobhaban, her official residence, by sending financial assistance to 15 families in Chattogram, Bhola and Jaipurhat.
The program was conducted via video conferencing where deputy commissioners of the concerned districts participated along with the beneficiaries. Prime Minister’s Principal Secretary Ahmad Kaikaus hosted the event.
In the current phase, the Prime Minister is providing financial assistance to 33.39 lakh beneficiaries with the help of two other MFS providers beside Nagad. The state carrier will disburse 45 percent of the total funds of this phase while the rest of the amount will be disbursed by the two other MFS providers.
On an opening day, around 11,000 beneficiaries received funds through their Nagad account.
Beneficiaries do not have to bear any additional cost for cash out since the government is paying the charge. However, Nagad users will get the full cash-out amount which is Tk 37.35.
Tanvir A Mishuk, managing director of Nagad, thanked the Prime Minister for trusting Nagad once again with the task of distributing the largest portion of the fund.
“We promise that the assistance will be delivered to all beneficiaries in the list given by the government in the most transparent manner. Nagad always operates in accordance with the rules of Bangladesh Bank and will continue to maintain that,” Mishuk said.
Last year before Eid the Prime Minister directed to distribute Tk 2,500 government assistance to each family and at that time Nagad also got the biggest chunk of 17 lakh beneficiaries for allocation.
Currently, there are 4.1 crore Nagad users and daily transactions crossed to Tk 400 crore on daily basis.
