While the budget speech indicated an increase in Aswesuma, it is still within the 0.6 of GDP parameter set by the IMF, which has been repeatedly highlighted as inadequate. We continue to call for universal social protection, given, among other things, the unchanging high levels of food insecurity among poor households in the last few years.

Concretely, the reduction in the budget provisions for nutrition for pregnant mothers is concerning given that we are continuing to observe an increase in low birth-weight and wasting among children under 5 years. Neonatal mortality, infant mortality and under-five years mortality rates have alarmingly increased. We will continue to look for similar specific dangerous measures that the country must pay attention to and highlight them in the coming days.

Given the enormous strain of poverty that the people of Sri Lanka have lived with through COVID and the economic crisis, the increase in actual amounts in Mahapola scholarships will have an immediate impact that cannot be dismissed. At the same time, we acknowledge that we must be wary that such measures do not become a tool of creating a positive public campaign for the government while continuing to maintain the systemic anti-poor economic policies that have been solidified by many governments.

The Feminist Collective for Economic Justice believes that without the Government taking immediate steps to renegotiate the IMF agreement, any attempt at creating a ’thriving nation and a beautiful life’ will remain a slogan and not manifest as a reality for the people of Sri Lanka. This is an essential precondition to bring the people of Sri Lanka out of the pain caused by the economic crisis.

The Feminist Collective for Economic Justice (FCEJ) is a collective of feminist economists, scholars, activists, university students and lawyers from across the country that came together in April 2022 to understand, analyze and give voice to policy recommendations based on lived realities of communities they work with in the current economic crisis in Sri Lanka. Please reach us at feministcollectiveforjustice gmail.com

Feminist Collective for Economic Justice (FCEJ)

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