( Spanish) — The Government of Colombia created the program Citizen Income, which seeks to provide financial aid to the most vulnerable families in the country so that they can overcome the poverty line and cover their basic needs. But how can the money be collected?
According to the director of the Department of Prosperity (DPS), sky rusinquethe Agrarian Bank will be in charge of granting the designated payments of the Citizen Income program.
The financial entity has 783 branches and 115 banking service modules —called “Banco Agrario más Cerca”—, which according to a statement of the Government of Colombia, “will guarantee the delivery of resources in rural and dispersed places”.
Banco Agrario —which has 10,153 banking correspondents in 1,064 municipalities, as well as 816 ATMs installed in the branch network and 1,352 ATMs from partner networks— will deliver monetary benefits “in 1,108 municipalities and townships in Colombia, including three indigenous councils “added the statement.
The Citizen Income program is aimed at households that are in a situation of “poverty, extreme poverty and socioeconomic vulnerability”, according to the Department of Social Prosperity, a government entity that manages the resources.
The bimonthly payments will begin to be made from April 2023, so that households that have been assigned the maximum limit of 500,000 pesos can receive up to one million pesos (about US$ 222, at the current exchange rate) every two months to cover your basic needs.
And although the program has national coverage, Social Prosperity will allocate “higher amounts” to households located in 466 municipalities “with high and very high prevalence of child malnutrition”, municipalities “with the highest multidimensional poverty index” and those covered by the Development Programs with Territorial Focus (PDET). Mothers who are the head of the family with children under 6 years of age will also be privileged.
Citizen Income arises after concluding the Solidarity Income program, which was created for aid during the covid-19 pandemic and which ended in December 2022. This program ended in December 2022 due to lack of budget, previously reported the president of Colombia, Gustavo Petro.
