COLOMBO, Dec. 21 (Xinhua) -- The Sri Lankan government has transferred over 51.9 billion rupees (about 160 million U.S. dollars) to over 1.4 million needy families qualified for the newly introduced Aswesuma welfare scheme in the last six months, a state minister said on Thursday.
State Minister of Finance Shehan Semasinghe said in a press release that 8.8 billion rupees (27 million dollars) were transferred in December alone.
He said out of the beneficiaries, 303,199 families fall under the extremely poor category.
The state minister said the government will evaluate the program at the end of the year, and call for a fresh round of applications in January 2024.
The government, in its recent budget, has allocated 205 billion rupees (628.8 million dollars) for the payment of the Aswesuma social welfare program in 2024. ■