The Sri Lankan government has increased the minimum monthly salary across the country by 40 percent. Transport Minister Bandula Gunawardene said in a briefing that the country’s cabinet approved a proposal in this regard on Tuesday.
Until now the minimum monthly salary in Sri Lanka was Rs 12,500. Now it has increased to 17 thousand 500 rupees after the decision of the cabinet.
In the briefing, the minister said, ‘This decision was very important for the government in the current economic situation of the country. We hope that soon we will be able to increase the daily wages.
Incidentally, Sri Lanka fell into a severe financial crisis due to the collapse of foreign exchange reserves due to the corona epidemic, corruption and financial mismanagement. At one stage of the crisis, the Sri Lankan government declared itself bankrupt in March 2022.
Meanwhile, due to the decrease in foreign currency reserves, the unbearable price inflation of all products, including food, medicine, fuel, started there. As a result, the number of people living in poverty is increasing in this once high middle income country.
The overall cost of living in Sri Lanka has increased by almost 90 percent compared to the pre-pandemic period. 20 percent of the country’s total population is extreme poor, whose monthly income is 17,572 rupees.
The government gave Sri Lanka an emergency (bailout) loan of 2.9 billion dollars last year to rebuild the collapsed economy, with that money Sri Lanka is trying to turn around again. It is already getting success.
Last February, the price inflation decreased by 5.9 percent in the country. Until then, the country’s inflation rate was 70 percent.
