SL transfers 52 billion to welfare programme in last six months

The Sri Lankan government has transferred over 51.9 billion rupees to over 1.4 million needy families qualified for the newly introduced Aswesuma welfare scheme in the last six months, a state minister said on Thursday.

State Minister of Finance Shehan Semasinghe said in a press release that 8.8 billion rupees were transferred in December alone.He said out of the beneficiaries, 303,199 families fall under the extremely poor category.

The State Minister added that the government will evaluate the programme, at the end of the year, and call for a fresh round of applications in January 2024.The government, in its recent Budget, has allocated 205 billion rupees for the payment of the Aswesuma social welfare programme in 2024.