📈 Sri Lanka Delays Key Socio-Economic Survey to Dec 2026

• Survey Overview: Release of the 2025 Household Income and Expenditure Survey (HIES) by the Department of Census and Statistics has been deferred from Oct 2026 to Dec 2026. The 12-month island-wide survey covers data from 25,000 households. • Delay Factors: The 2-month delay stems from data cleaning and verification complexities, computerization bottlenecks, cadre vacancies, and concurrent work on the Economic Survey. • Policy & Welfare Impact: The Committee on Public Finance (CoPF) stressed the urgent need to update the outdated consumer basket used for poverty line calculations to reflect true cost of living. Delayed data impacts targeting for social safety nets like Aswesuma, risking fiscal leakages and exclusion errors for vulnerable populations.