Govt. to resume Rs. 5000 hand-out to curfew areas

• Treasury to provide funds despite growing deficit 
• Govt. says all being done to fight virus, insists vacancies at Health Ministry not impacting COVID-19 response

The Government yesterday decided to recommence giving a Rs. 5000 allowance to people living in areas under quarantine curfew, a top official said. 

Cabinet spokesman and Media Minister Keheliya Rambukwella responding to a question during the weekly Cabinet briefing said following discussions with the Finance Ministry, the Government had decided to restart giving the Rs. 5000 allowance as was done for two months earlier this year. 

“We understand that the people in these areas are facing serious problems. However, people must understand that the Government is doing all that it can. If we could give Rs. 50,000 to people we would. Unfortunately the Government does not have the funds to do this. In the previous rounds the Treasury had to allocate Rs. 80 billion, which is a huge amount of money and we simply do not have the resources,” he said. 

Rambukwella also denied that vacancies and non-appointment of a permanent Health Ministry Secretary was having an impact on the Government’s COVID-19 response, insisting that all efforts were being made to combat the global pandemic as efficiently as possible, while keeping the economy running. He stressed that countries around the world were struggling with the pandemic and this was not a situation unique to Sri Lanka.