The Welfare Benefits Board disbursed a total of Rs.11.6 billion to the bank accounts of 622,495 beneficiaries in the transitional and vulnerable categories for the payments of June 2024 under the “Aswesuma” Welfare Benefit Payment Programme yesterday (27).
In the first phase of the programme, eligible beneficiaries in the vulnerable category received Rs.5,000 from July 2023 to March 31, 2024. Meanwhile, those in the transitional category received Rs. 2,500 from July 2023 to December 31,2023.
In response to the current economic situation, President Ranil Wickremesinghe has instructed the Welfare Benefits Board to extend the payment period of special allowances for beneficiaries in the transitional and vulnerable categories under the “Aswesuma” Welfare Benefit Payment Programme until December this year.
As part of this initiative, a special allowance was disbursed to these categories for June 2024, followed by monthly payments of Rs. 5,000 each from July 2024 to December 2024.
Welfare Benefits Board Chairman Jayantha Wijeratne confirmed that the existing payment system for the extremely poor and poor categories will continue without changes.