The Hon. (Dr.) Upali Pannilage
Hon. (Dr.) Upali Pannilage responded that district-wise poverty data had not been surveyed between 2019 and 2024, but the Household Income and Expenditure Survey was conducted in 2025 and the Department of Census and Statistics is due to publish results in October 2026. He said the Official Poverty Line is published monthly and is currently Rs. 16,690 per person per month nationally, with district variations such as Colombo at Rs. 18,000 and Monaragala at Rs. 15,958. He also cited World Bank estimates indicating poverty declined from 24.8 per cent in 2024 to 20.1 per cent in April 2026, and said these data guide poverty alleviation programmes.
Verbatim record (translated)
Machine-translated from Sinhala / Tamil / English¶ 01 Hon. Speaker, respectfully: the first question sought district-wise poverty. I referred to DCS surveys. From 2019 to 2024 there were governments; the survey was not done. We conducted HIES in 2025; DCS will publish in October 2026. That is this year, and we made it happen in 2025.
¶ 02 On the OPL: DCS publishes OPL monthly; it is publicly available online. I tabled the same. According to DCS, the national OPL is Rs. 16,690 per person per month, with district variations (e.g., Colombo Rs. 18,000; lowest Monaragala Rs. 15,958). These are computed every month.
¶ 03 Further, the World Bank’s 2024 study estimated poverty at 24.8 per cent (about 5.5 million people). Its April 2026 update shows 20.1 per cent (about 4.4 million), an approximate reduction of 1.1 million over the past 1.5–2 years. We use such data to drive our poverty alleviation programmes.
¶ 04 Thank you, Hon. Speaker.
Provenance
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- Hansard, Thursday, 7 May 2026 ·No. 23540 ·English daily/uncorrected Hansard
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Cite as: The Hon. (Dr.) Upali Pannilage. 10th Parliament, Parliament of Sri Lanka. Hansard, 7 May 2026. No. 23540. Politick, https://staging.politick.io/lk/speeches/3466