Sri Lanka - Budget 2001: Social Agenda vs Military Development

If there is a development agenda in the Budget 2001 presented recently, then it has been effectively hidden beneath the rising overall allocations on defence. The social impact of austerity measures introduced due to the conflict in the north plus the galloping military expendiure has been a significant deterioration in people's standard of life including a contraction of social and economic opportunities. In the event programmes like the Samurdhi aimed at poverty alleviation can have little effect.