Public wants to prioritise health and education for increased government spending: IHP survey

As the government struggles with rationalising spending amidst the crisis, most Sri Lankans have surprisingly similar views to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on spending priorities, a survey by the Institute of Health Policy (IHP) has revealed.

“Large majorities of Sri Lankans want the government to prioritise increases in health and education spending, whilst there is also strong support for increasing spending on agriculture. In contrast, the public prioritize the police and roads for cuts in spending, whilst most do not think cutting spending on the military should be a priority,” it said.

IHP said during polling by its Sri Lanka Opinion Tracker Survey (SLOTS) during October and November 2022, respondents were asked to identify their top two priorities for increasing government spending, and their top two priorities for cutting spending.

When asked their priorities for increasing spending, 66 per cent of Sri Lankan adults identified health and 60 per cent education as their top two priorities. This is in line with IMF recommendations that the government increase health and education spending in real terms as part of the fiscal adjustment process. The next highest public priorities for spending increases were agriculture and farming at 49 per cent, and fertiliser at 15 per cent.

In contrast, when asked to identify their top two priorities for cutting government spending, similar numbers of 44 per cent and 37 per cent of Sri Lankan adults identified the police and roads respectively. Smaller but significant numbers also wanted to cut spending on Samurdhi (30 per cent) and the army (20 per cent).

Priorities were largely similar across different groups, but the poorest one third of Sri Lankans were more likely to identify agriculture (62 per cent) and fertilisers (33 per cent) as top priorities for increased spending, whilst the richest one third of Sri Lankans were much more likely (45 per cent) than other Sri Lankans to prioritize Samurdhi for spending cuts.

There was also lack of agreement between ethnic groups on the military, with half of non-Sinhala adults identifying the military as a priority for cutting spending, compared to only one in 10 of Sinhala adults. However, large numbers in all ethnic groups identified the police for spending cuts.