More than 135,000 beneficiaries of Sri Lanka’s Aswesuma poverty alleviation program cannot receive their monthly payments due to not having bank accounts, a top government official has stated.
Although the government has approved 1.8 million households as Aswesuma beneficiaries from last year’s applicants, around 200,000 beneficiaries have not received any benefits, according to the official.
Aswesuma benefits are disbursed exclusively through formal banking channels to prevent corruption, government officials say.
“Around 135,000 people out of these 200,000 have not opened bank accounts, and we are unable to deposit their money,” Jayantha Wijerathne, Chairman of the Welfare Benefits Board, told EconomyNext on Monday (22).
“Some people may have taken loans and failed to repay the dues. Some are unable to open a new account because of their credit (CRIB) scores,” he said. “Some are unaware and have not opened accounts despite requests. And some elderly and disabled people are unable to open accounts, so we have asked government officials to assist them. Once they open the account, they will receive all their past dues from July last year.”
President Ranil Wickremesinghe launched the ambitious Aswesuma program in mid-last year to assist the poor and vulnerable in the country following an unprecedented economic crisis. The World Bank has provided funds for this year’s program.
The government is also in the process of selecting the second batch of beneficiaries and has already received over 455,000 applications. It plans to provide benefits for 2.4 million needy people under four categories: extreme poor, poor, vulnerable, and transitional.
The latest data shows the government has selected 370,000 people under the extreme poor category to provide 15,000 rupees monthly, 755,000 under the poor category with a monthly 8,500 rupees payment, and 387,000 under the vulnerable category with 5,000 rupees. Additionally, 339,000 people under the transitional category are paid 5,000 rupees, officials said.
The government is also paying a monthly 7,500 rupees for disabled people, 5,000 rupees for elderly people over 70 years old, and a monthly allowance of 7,500 rupees for people with unidentified kidney diseases.