The Egyptian government removed around 620,000 beneficiaries from its flagship social protection programs Takaful and Karama during 2025, while enrolling about 570,000 newly eligible families in the same year, according to a government source familiar with the welfare file.
The source, who spoke to Al Manassa on condition of anonymity, said beneficiaries’ social and economic status is reviewed every three years, adding that cases excluded this year varied. Some were removed after improvements in their living conditions, while others were found by the Ministry of Social Solidarity to have acquired vehicles designated for people with disabilities, rendering them ineligible for cash assistance under the program.
The ministry has also suspended Takaful and Karama payments for categories that include households owning private cars, taxis, transport vehicles or agricultural tractors, the source said.
In October 2024, social solidarity minister Maya Morsy announced that authorities had identified 44,500 Takaful and Karama beneficiaries who obtained disability-designated vehicles over a three-year period. The ministry subsequently froze their welfare cards, a move officials said saved funds for the state treasury.
Eight months earlier, Morsy had said in televised remarks that the Takaful and Karama program provides support to each beneficiary for three years, after which their financial situation is reassessed before any renewal for a similar period. She further added the total number of beneficiaries had reached 4.7 million families.
The government plans to increase pension payments by about 20% starting in April, as part of allocations in the new 2026–2027 state budget, the government source revealed to Al Manassa.
According to data from the current fiscal year’s budget, Karama payments range between 705 and 884 Egyptian pounds per month, depending on the beneficiary’s status, while the maximum base payment under Takaful is 648 pounds.
The government also intends to raise budget allocations for the Takaful and Karama program in the draft budget scheduled to be presented to parliament in March, increasing funding from 41 billion pounds to about 60 billion pounds, the source added. The increase coincides with the inclusion of new families and higher benefit levels for existing recipients.
He said the government is moving toward expanding social protection programs in line with commitments made to the International Monetary Fund, aiming to shield the most vulnerable households from the impact of inflation and the rising burden of external debt.
On April 6, President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi issued Law No. 12 of 2025 on social security, known as the Takaful and Karama law, which introduced strict eligibility conditions for state support. The law defines Takaful as conditional cash assistance for citizens without access to social insurance and who are unable to support themselves or their families, including cases of disability and old age.
Under the law, eligibility for conditional Takaful support is limited to five categories of families: households headed by a female breadwinner who is also the legal guardian or custodian of the children; families of detainees in rehabilitation and correction centers; families of conscripts; families abandoned by the breadwinner for at least six months, as proven by a police report and social investigation; and poor families outside those categories.
For Karama, the unconditional cash pension, the law specifies eight eligible categories: people with disabilities; individuals with severe chronic illnesses; elderly people living alone, with their families or in care institutions; women without a breadwinner; orphans; care-leavers residing in Social Solidarity homes who have reached 18 years of age; former artists, athletes, writers and visual artists who meet eligibility criteria; and unmarried women.
