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President Anura Kumara Dissanayake in his capacity as the Minister of Finance, Planning and Economic Development has issued a Gazette notification announcing the amount to paid to the Aswesuma beneficiaries under four categories from next January.
The beneficiaries categorised as ‘Extremely poor’, ‘Poor’, and ‘Vulnerable’ will receive monthly payments as follows: The beneficiaries who are categorised under ‘Extremely Poor’ will receive a monthly allowance of Rs. 17,500 from January 2025 to June 2026 and 480,000 persons have qualified for the allowance.
The beneficiaries in the ‘Poor’ category will receive a monthly allowance of Rs. 10,000 from January 2025 to June in 2026 and the number of beneficiaries under this category is 960,000. Those in the ‘Vulnerable’ group will also receive Rs. 5,000 per month from January to December next year.
The beneficiaries in the ‘Transitional’ category will also receive an allowance of Rs. 5,000 per month from January to March 2025.
Accordingly, 2.4 million persons are entitled to receive ‘Aswesuma’ benefits. The previous ‘Aswesuma’ welfare benefit payment scheme, which was first issued on May 17, 2024, has now been rescinded.
However, payments under the previous scheme will continue until December 31, 2024, for beneficiaries whose payments have been delayed due to various reasons.
Additionally, applicants who are yet to be selected for the scheme will be entitled to payments once their eligibility is confirmed.
This includes those who have already submitted appeals, with investigations still underway to determine their qualification for the welfare benefit.
In addition, 820,000 elderly citizens will also receive a monthly benefit of Rs. 3,000, while 50,000 persons who have been diagnosed with chronic kidney disease will continue to receive Rs. 7,500 as an allowance from the government.
The government continues to provide an allowance of Rs. 7,500 to differently-abled persons and 410,000 persons will benefit by this scheme.
