Read full analysis here:

www.ft.lk/opinion/The-...

Far from fair redistribution, this approach signals a cruel transfer of the burden of the crisis onto those already poor.

While more than half of the public revenue is generated through indirect taxes, only 4.7% of the total Budget revenue is allocated to be distributed back to the families who have helped raise them through Aswesuma.

The recent thrust on increasing Government revenues has meant that working people have paid a higher share of the increases through indirect taxes on goods and services, even as they were forced to contend with inadequate food, medicines and education for their families.

In addition, the NPP Government introduced financial assistance to purchase school stationery to the program. In total, the amount allocated to all such different vulnerable groups is only Rs. 232.5 billion, an appalling 0.7% of GDP.

Aswesuma is the only State-led program that is focused on offering relief to the most vulnerable sections of society, including low-income families, the elderly, persons living with disabilities and kidney patients.

The figure should be understood as a shrinking of the cash transfer program. There is not even a nominal increase from the allocation in 2024 (Rs. 161.7 billion).

Disappointingly, the 2025 Budget fails to make social protection for the most precarious families a budgetary priority. The amount allocated for cash transfers to low-income families under the Aswesuma program is Rs. 160.1 billion, which amounts to a meagre 0.5% of GDP.