Sri Lanka: Country Report for SAARC Regional Poverty Profile 2006/2007

Despite the large volume of literature on the role of infrastructure on poverty alleviation from various countries, limited studies have been carried out to explore this aspect in South Asia. In this context, at the SAARC Ministerial Meeting on Poverty Alleviation held in Colombo in August, 2006, it was decided to explore the nexus between rural infrastructure, including socio-economic infrastructure, and poverty in the next SAARC Regional Poverty Profile (RPP). IPS in collaboration with the Samurdhi Division of the Ministry of Nation Building and Estate Infrastructure Development and the Department of Census and Statistics of Sri Lanka (DCS) prepared the country report on the nexus between rural infrastructure and poverty alleviation in Sri Lanka, which will be used as an input to the SAARC RPP.