In the first five months of this year, the government provided 10 billion riel ($2.46 million) through the National Social Security Fund (NSSF) to 25,867 low-income female workers who gave birth to 26,057 babies.
In May alone, it provided 2.2 billion riel ($550,000) to more than 5,000 workers for their deliveries, according to the NSSF report issued on June 2,
The Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training’s NSSF director-general Ouk Somvithyea said that although the Covid-19 crisis continues to linger, the government was still paying close attention to the urgent social and living needs of the people.
He said he had instructed officials to continue their work to serve benefits to the NSSF members in an efficient and timely manner.
“We are responsible for managing and performing our duties responsibly to provide social security fund services to the workers who are the NSSF members on time,” Somvithyea said.
According to the NSSF report, workers in factories, enterprises and establishments who have paid their wage contributions to the NSSF for at least nine months within a period of 12 months at the time they give childbirth will receive 90 days off of work with an additional 70 per cent daily allowance from the NSSF as well as many other benefits.
The NSSF has provided additional allowances to women giving birth to babies since 2018.
If a mother gives birth to one child she receives 400,000 riel, mothers of twins receive 800,000 riel and mothers of triplets receive 1,200,000 riel along with an additional allowance of five million riel from Prime Minister Hun Sen.
For 2020, the government spent roughly 32.4 billion riel on the programme with benefits going to 80,499 women who gave birth to 81,031 babies.
