Poland has so far paid out over PLN 127 million (USD 33 million, EUR 29 million) under a flagship government child benefit programme launched a month ago that aims to raise the country’s birth rate, officials said on Thursday.
Family, Work and Social Policy Minister Elżbieta Rafalska said around 1.5 million applications for payouts have been submitted to local authorities and 472,000 have been submitted online.
“So far more than 400,000 decisions to award benefits have been issued and over PLN 127 million has already been paid out,” she added.
However, Monika Rosa, an MP from the opposition Nowoczesna party, claimed the government would have to scrap the new payouts because it would not be able to afford them.
Rosa told Polish Radio: “There is a lack of ideas on how to find PLN 17 billion this year and PLN 22 billion next year.”
The new handouts were a key pledge by the conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party ahead of its victory in the country’s October general election.
With the population of Poland set to shrink fast, the PiS government’s “500+” programme aims to ease the burdens of child-rearing by giving all families with two or more children a handout of PLN 500 a month per child, regardless of their income level.
Poorer families will receive the allowance even if they have just one child.
