IMF wants Sri Lanka to provide more relief to the poor
The International Monetary Fund wants Sri Lanka to provide more relief to the poor and vulnerable people during the financial crisis in order to secure IMF board approval for financial assistance.
State Minister of Finance Shehan Semasinghe said that providing relief to the poor is an essential factor in the IMF programme.
“If this relief program is delayed even by one day, it will be an injustice not only to the groups that should receive them but also for about 22 million people of the country whose economy should be restored,” Semasinghe said.
The State Minister thanked Sri Lanka’s creditors for their support in providing financial assurances as per the request of the International Monetary Fund.
But the final approval of the International Monetary Fund has shown the need to provide more relief to the poor and vulnerable people.
“It is necessary to provide the poor relief, to be included in the International Monetary Fund program. For that, it is important to prepare a social register with regularity and diversity and to identify the groups that really need relief. Social benefits are already being provided. But social surveys have revealed that some of them are people who are not qualified to receive it and the people are very well aware of that,” he said.
The State Minister said that there are families that should be given relief but some families among them are not benefiting from the program.
“In order to provide these benefits, the appropriate families should be selected, and the social register should be prepared by the necessary officials, and the benefits should be given to the families who have applied for the benefits and should meet the requirements to be chosen,” he said.
Semasinghe said the quick implementation of the relief program will be extremely important to restore the economy of the country’s 22 million people. (Colombo Gazette)
