Financing the Zambia social cash transfer scale-up: A tax benefit microsimulation analysis based on MicroZAMOD

Abstract

This paper assesses the effects on poverty and inequality of the alternative targeting approaches that Zambia's Social Cash Transfer programme could take as its expansion continues during the period of the country's Seventh National Development Plan (2017-21). It further assesses the domestic financing needs associated with alternative approaches. The Zambian government introduced support based on giving actual cash through social cash transfers aimed at reducing poverty and vulnerability in a sustainable and cost-effective way.