75 per cent of Sri Lankan households are currently earning insufficient income to meet basic living costs as national inflation rises past 8 per cent, a study has found.
A newly released World Bank study details a widespread economic squeeze across the island, revealing that real earnings fell by over 40 per cent between 2019 and 2023 without recovering fully.
The findings confirm that 40 per cent of the population remains trapped in poverty or stands at immediate risk of falling below the poverty line in 2026.
According to the report, the ongoing financial pressure has forced families to reduce meal intake and prompted workers to abandon the labor market entirely.
Female labor force participation has dropped from 34.4 per cent in 2019 to 32.4 per cent in 2024, keeping Sri Lanka among the lowest performers in the region.
Disparities remain severe across regions, with poverty rates outside the Western Province measuring two to three times higher than inside it, while poverty in the estate sector stands at triple the national average.
The shortfall between available household resources and basic daily needs doubled nationally between 2019 and 2024, with the gap in the Northern Province expanding to four times that of the Western Province.
High consumption taxes accounting for 12 per cent of gross domestic product further inflate consumer prices, threatening to fuel stagflation and diminish export competitiveness if maintained over an extended period.
Leave your comments
Login to post a comment
Post comment as a guest