Financial Aid Millions in Sri Lanka seek financial aid: Sri Lanka Finance Minister
Colombo/UNI: Sri Lankan Finance Minister Ranjith Siyambalapitiya said that nearly four million families, which make up 58 percent of the country’s households, are seeking financial assistance from the government under various social welfare schemes to survive amid the ongoing economic crisis.
“At the moment, there are 2,278,817 families who come under various social welfare schemes. In addition, there are 1,033,940 families who have applied for Samurdhi allowance," the Daily Mirror newspaper quoted him as saying.
"Altogether, 3,911,757 families accounting for 57.5 percent of the country’s households are seeking financial assistance to continue with their lives. It’s our responsibility to support them under the current strenuous environment,” he said in a statement.
With food inflation hovering around 100 percent, the Minister stressed that the only remaining option is to elevate taxes in order to support these families in need of financial assistance as printing money would further fuel inflation.
The Government was able to record Rs.171.45 billion revenue in Sept. this year, but the state expenditure remained high at Rs 406.61 billion or 237 percent above the state revenue, including recurrent expenditure amounting to Rs 237.65 billion.
