Sajith questions budget planning without updated poverty data

Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa has claimed that the Government does not have accurate and up-to-date data on poverty in Sri Lanka, questioning how it intends to formulate policies and present the 2027 Budget on November 12 without updated household income and expenditure data.

Addressing a meeting of Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) Colombo District organisers and local government members, Premadasa criticised a 104-page socio-economic data publication jointly by the Central Bank and the Department of Census and Statistics, saying that some of the poverty-related information contained in it was based on data from 2016 and 2019.

According to Premadasa, pages 1 to 18 of the report contain data from 2021, 2023, 2024 and 2025, while pages 18 to 35, which deal with poverty-related matters, contain data from 2016 and 2019. He said pages 35 to 104 contain data from 2023, 2024 and 2025.

Premadasa argued that poverty-related policies and the poverty line were therefore being based on older Household Income and Expenditure Survey data.

He also said the six-page summary of the report includes information on income distribution and household income and expenditure, but claimed the underlying information relating to poverty was outdated.

The Opposition Leader further alleged that both the current and previous governments had implemented the Aswesuma welfare programme following the 2022 economic crisis without sufficiently updated Household Income and Expenditure Survey findings, claiming that the methodology used to determine eligibility was not adequately based on current data.

Premadasa also cited World Bank figures, claiming that 65.4% of Sri Lanka’s population falls below a US$8.30-per-person-per-day poverty benchmark, equivalent, according to his calculation, to around Rs. 2,724 per day.

He contrasted this with Sri Lanka’s official poverty line, referring to a figure of Rs. 17,315 per person per month. The Department of Census and Statistics currently lists the national official poverty line for July 2026 at Rs. 17,679 per person per month.

Premadasa further claimed that the World Bank projects the proportion below the benchmark he cited to decline by only around two percentage points to 63.4% by 2028.

He also cited figures indicating that 33% of Sri Lanka’s 6.1 million households face severe food insecurity, while accusing the Government of failing to adequately reflect the economic difficulties faced by households.

Premadasa questioned how the Government could present the Budget on November 12 without updated Household Income and Expenditure Survey results.

The Department of Census and Statistics says the HIES is generally conducted once every three years and is used to measure living conditions and calculate socio-economic indicators, including poverty-related measures. Its current release calendar lists the HIES 2025 Final Bulletin for December 31, 2026 and the Poverty Indicators 2025 Bulletin for February 16, 2027.

Premadasa also questioned comparisons involving Sri Lanka’s Human Development Index, arguing that reliance on older poverty data raised concerns about comparisons with Asian, SAARC and G7 countries. (Newswire)