The PMD also said the economic situation in the South Asian island country will improve in 2023….reports Asian Lite News
The Sri Lankan government launched its restructured welfare benefits programme that will benefit 3.1 million vulnerable families.
President’s Media Division (PMD) said on Thursday that they have started registering those who deserve the government assistance and those who are interested in receiving the aid must register before October 15.
Applications can be downloaded from the website of the Welfare Benefits Board, the PMD said. The format of applications will also be published in all newspapers.
The theme of the programme is to “leave no one behind.”
Among those who are eligible to seek the benefit are those who already receive government assistance, those who are chronically ill or disabled, the elderly, and those who have lost their livelihood due to the current economic crisis.
The PMD also said the economic situation in the South Asian island country will improve in 2023.
Tourism hopes
Sri Lanka hopes to attract over 900,000 tourists by the end of this year as the country works toward restoring normalcy following recent economic and political instability, the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) said on Wednesday.
SLTDA Chairperson Priantha Fernando said in a statement that Sri Lanka aims to attract at least 972,475 tourists by the end of 2022, Xinhua news agency reported.
“We are not happy with the arrival figures over the last nine months. It is a gradual build-up, fighting against the negativity,” Fernando said.
“However efforts are being taken to increase the influx of international visitors for the remaining months of the year,” he added.
Sri Lanka’s tourist arrivals faced a drastic drop in September, when only 29,802 visitors entered the country despite the relaxation of travel restrictions imposed by key source markets.
According to industry experts, the country is well behind its competitors in the region in its tourism sector recovery. Competing nations such as the Maldives have been welcoming well over 100,000 tourists on a monthly basis for the past several months, while tourist arrivals to Sri Lanka have been ranging from 30,000 to 60,000, official statistics have shown.
Tourism, one of Sri Lanka’s leading foreign exchange earners, has suffered a setback due to the COVID-19 pandemic and its economic and political crises.
Interest rates unchanged
Sri Lanka’s central bank decided to maintain the Standing Deposit Facility Rate (SDFR) and the Standing Lending Facility Rate (SLFR) at their current levels of 14.50 per cent and 15.50 per cent, respectively.
The central bank announced on Thursday that it arrived at this decision after considering the latest macroeconomic conditions, expected developments, and macroeconomic projections, Xinhua news agency reported.
It said it noted the present tight monetary conditions, the reducing pace of inflation, and both domestic and global factors have helped the country stabilise.
The current fiscal policies are complementing the monetary policy and are helping to mitigate any build-up of aggregate demand pressures, it said.
The central bank expects the country’s headline inflation to drop to 4 to 6 percent over the medium term.
