The Hon. Sajith Premadasa - Leader of the Opposition

¶ 01 Thank you, Hon. Minister, for the reply. However, I am not satisfied with the substantive points. Let me ask: Sri Lanka faced the Easter attacks, COVID-19, sovereign default, Cyclone “Dicha,” and the Middle East war, yet the previous Government did not update the HIES; regrettably, your Government also did not, though you assumed office after the 2024 Presidential and General Elections and could have updated the data. If results of the 2025 HIES will only be out in October 2026, how have you computed the poverty line relevant to your one-and-a-half to two years in office?

¶ 02 Further, you state the March 2026 OPL is Rs. 16,690. How did you arrive at that when you say OPL is calculated with HIES and the results are due in October 2026? We need integrity on both sides. Successive governments governed on 2019 data. When a new President took office, there was no fresh HIES to truly understand poverty; your Government has repeated that shortcoming. If you speak of poverty alleviation, you must have up-to-date statistics: conduct HIES at least every two years, compute required food and non-food expenditures, and calculate the OPL accordingly.