• Nearly 1m extremely poor families facing removal by 2027
• Deputy Minister says no cuts unless household incomes improve
• New beneficiary list due within weeks as re-survey continues

The Government will not remove nearly one million families classified as extremely poor and poor from the Aswesuma welfare programme unless their incomes improve, despite an IMF condition requiring the two categories to be phased out by next year (2027), Deputy Social Security and Community Empowerment Minister Wasantha Piyathissa said.

Speaking to The Daily Morning, he said that around one million families currently classified as extremely poor and poor are receiving Aswesuma benefits, with families in the two categories receiving Rs 17,000 and Rs 10,000 per month, respectively.

He said the IMF conditions require the two categories to be removed from the programme during the course of next year, but stressed that this could only take place alongside measures to improve the families’ income situation.

“The removal can only be done along with an improvement in their income situation. Therefore, there is a discussion about this at present. They will not be removed during the coming year. However, we are carrying out a review of this,” Piyathissa said.

Speaking further, he said around 1.7 million families had initially received Aswesuma benefits, with around 700,000 having since been removed from the programme.

“There were around 1.7 million families receiving Aswesuma benefits. By now, there are only about 800,000-one million families. The others can submit appeals through the Divisional Secretaries. If they have the required qualifications, they can receive the benefits,” he said.

Piyathissa previously told The Daily Morning that another 400,000 families classified as poor are due to be removed from the Aswesuma programme by December this year (2026) under the IMF agreement. He said the Government had no plan to enrol another 400,000 families simply because that number is being removed, stressing that the objective is to provide assistance to people who genuinely need support.

Introduced in 2023, Aswesuma initially covered nearly 1.7 million beneficiaries across four categories. Payments to the transitional category ended in April last year (2025), while assistance to households classified as vulnerable was discontinued in June this year.

Meanwhile, the selection process for beneficiaries under a new round of the Aswesuma welfare benefit scheme has now been completed, Rural Development, Social Security and Community Empowerment Minister Upali Pannilage said.

He said the new beneficiary list is expected to be displayed within the next few weeks, providing an opportunity for anyone to submit an appeal.

Elsewhere, Deputy Finance and Planning Minister Anil Jayantha Fernando recently told Parliament that a re-survey of Aswesuma beneficiaries had been conducted. He said applications received during the first and second phases were being verified, adding that the process is expected to be completed within this month (September).

According to official figures, there were 1,773,445 Aswesuma beneficiaries in 2023, while the number stood at 1,761,116 in 2024. The number increased to 2,439,917 last year but had declined to 1,251,522 by this year.

Aswesuma benefits had previously been provided under four categories: extremely poor, poor, vulnerable and transitional. Payments to beneficiaries in the transitional category ended in December 2025, while payments to the vulnerable category ended in June. Accordingly, the Government has continued payments only for the extremely poor and poor categories, while a re-survey of beneficiaries was also launched during this period.

Meanwhile, the Welfare Benefits Board has announced that the elderly allowance for September is scheduled to be credited to the Aswesuma bank accounts of eligible beneficiaries on 1 October.

Under the first phase of the Aswesuma Welfare Benefits Payment Scheme, Rs 3,083.755 million has been allocated for 616,755 senior citizens aged over 70. Under the second phase, Rs 395.315 million has been allocated for a further 79,063 senior citizens aged over 70.

A total of Rs 3,479.07 million is scheduled to be paid to 695,818 elderly beneficiaries under the two phases. Eligible beneficiaries will be able to access their elderly allowance through their Aswesuma bank accounts from 1 October.