In 4 years, 112 million euros were spent on the baby bonus, 33% of the beneficiaries are newborns abroad

2023-08-10 07:47:00, Ekonomi CNA

In 4 years, 112 million euros were spent on the baby bonus, 33% of the

In total, in 4 years for the period 2019-2022 from the start of the support program for giving the baby bonus, according to the data of the monitoring reports of the Ministry of Health, a fund worth 11.5 billion ALL or about 112 million euros.

The total number of beneficiary babies according to the Monitoring data of the Ministry of Health is for 161,943 newborns. Based on the number of births for the years 2019-2022, according to INSTAT data, it is 108,535 births, which means that 33% or 53,408 bonus beneficiary babies live abroad.

For the period January-April, according to the data of the Ministry of Health, the baby bonus was distributed to 12,123 newborns, while the spent fund is calculated to be worth 900 million ALL. Compared to 2022, the number of beneficiary babies is down 4%. In 2022, 12,628 babies benefited from the bonus, while the distributed fund is the same as in the period of 2023.

The baby bonus is a new social policy that is being implemented by the government from January 1, 2019, which supports families through the direct award of a check worth 40,000 Lek for the first child, 80,000 Lek for the second child and 120,000 Lek for the second child. third. The bonus is available to all children registered in Albania, even if the baby was born abroad, in the form of a check drawn by the mother.

Due to the high number of beneficiary babies outside Albania in May, the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare published the draft law "For an addition and an amendment to Law No. 57/2019 "On Social Assistance in the Republic of Albania", where point 1 of article 9 of the law excludes persons who are not residents of Albania from benefiting from this bonus.

It was
Article 9
Beneficiary of immediate financial assistance (baby bonus)
1. Beneficiaries of immediate financial assistance (baby bonus) for the newborn baby are the child's parent(s).
2. The measure and procedure of providing immediate financial assistance for newborn babies and the way of cooperation between hospital service institutions and those of civil status are determined by the decision of the Council of Ministers Article 11 Non-beneficiaries The following persons do not benefit from this law: a
)
citizens Albanians living abroad as immigrants, with the exception of the beneficiaries according to point 1 of article 9, of this law.

It becomes
Article 1
In Article 9, point 1, the phrase "...who are resident in the Republic of Albania" is added at the end of the sentence.

Article 2
Letter "a" of Article 11 is reformulated as follows: "a) Albanian citizens who are not residents of the Republic of Albania."/Monitor

In 4 years, 112 million euros were spent on the baby bonus, 33% of the