Close to 12 per cent of the richest quintile in Sri Lanka received cash transfers (Samurdhi), whereas only 48 per cent of the poorest quintile received a cash transfer in 2019, the World Bank (WB) said.
In a publication titled ‘Protecting the Poor and Vulnerable in a Time of Crisis’ the WB said that this indicates that there are significant inclusion and exclusion errors. This also has to be looked at in the context that poverty has more than doubled over the past few years and poverty and vulnerability will continue to rise without appropriate support, it warned.
Meanwhile, support for health and nutrition programmes and education programmes was approximately 0.6 per cent of GDP. Support for health and nutrition programmes was 0.05 per cent of GDP and for education programmes was approximately 0.08 per cent of GDP in 2021, the WB said.
