Dissident Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) MP Patali Champika Ranawaka has said that as many as 2,000 Buddhist monks with higher ordination leave their robes annually, noting that the economic crisis was one of the key reasons for this. 

Ranawaka has made this statement while addressing a gathering of leading Buddhist monks at the Nagananda Vihara in Manelwatta. He has noted that everyone should cast aside their differences and unite to revitalise the economy and that it was important to obtain the blessings of the Buddhist clergy for this.

However, the Department of Buddhist Affairs stated that it was providing the necessary financial and communal support for all Buddhist monks, especially those who were suffering from economic hardships.

Commissioner General of Buddhist Affairs R.M.P. Rathnayake has said that the department currently had many programmes to assist both ‘upasampada’ (ordained) and ‘samanera’ (novice) bhikkhus in terms of their education and living. He added that usually, a number of monks left their robes due to various reasons, but that the department was taking all possible measures to address their issues, sometimes even if they were private matters.