ECONOMYNEXT — Sri Lanka opposition leader and presidential candidate Sajith Premadasa has said a government under him will take measures to alleviate poverty within two years.
Speaking at an election rally, Premadasa said a Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) government will introduce a bottom-up programme to provide a monthly allowance of 20,000 rupees over a period of 24 months to families identified as poor.
“There will be a new programme to salvage this country’s poor from poverty within 24 months. I would like to state here that under this bottom-up programme, every poor family will receive 20,000 rupees a month for 24 months, and poor people will be salvaged from poverty within two years,” said Premadasa.
“We will definitely work for the development of you all, to strengthen your livelihood,” he said.
News footage from the SJB rally did not show Premadasa elaborate on how the programme would be funded.
The main opposition party has yet to officially release its presidential election manifesto.
The government’s Aswesuma poverty alleviation programme, financially backed by the World Bank, has allocated 205 billion rupees for 2024. Sri Lanka’s successive governments have used poverty alleviation programmes for political gains and to win elections.
Rival candidate President Ranil Wickremesinghe, meanwhile, has questioned the wisdom in making what he insinuated are unrealistic promises. Speaking at a recent event, he said Sri Lanka has to raise 5 trillion rupees in revenue in 2025.
“If you promise to reduce taxes and give this or that free in your election campaigns, this agreement is broken,” he said.
“You have to find money elsewhere. If you reduce value added tax (VAT), you have to raise income tax,” he added.
While the next government can change the source of funding for the five-trillion-rupee revenue target, said Wickremesinghe, it cannot deviate from that target.
“You have to stay on target. If you don’t meet this target, what will happen?” (Colombo/Aug27/2024)