State Aristocracy’s Pakistan – 7: Rs.2 billion spent on Benazir Income Support Program ads in four years

ISLAMABAD: During the last four fiscal years – up until December 2012 – the government has spent more than Rs2 billion on a media campaign for the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP). 

BISP Chairperson Farzana Raja shared this information with the National Assembly on Wednesday (January 23) during the question hour session. She said that of the allocated Rs3.6 billion, Rs1.88 billion was spent on the promotion of BISP in electronic media, while Rs555 million was spent on print media.

“The purpose of the campaign was to make BISP easy to understand for every Pakistani,” said Raja. The programme’s communication strategy, she added, was a mixture of various means and resources used to reach out to beneficiaries present across the country.

Replying to a question, she told the lower house that Rs93 million were spent during the 2008-09 fiscal year. It increased to Rs658 million in 2009-10, Rs778 million in 2010-11, and Rs863 million in 2011-12, while the advertisement expenditure remained Rs51 million in the current fiscal year (up until December 2012).

Link to the news: http://tribune.com.pk/story/498357/rs2b-spent-on-bisp-ads-in-four-years-farzana/

[The Express Tribune, January 24, 2013]