Press briefing of Cabinet Decision taken on 2020-10-26

Revision of the “Swashakthi Loan Scheme” to provide loan facilities towards developing Small and Medium Scale Business Sector and generating employments

- In the year 2017, the “Swasakthi Loan Scheme” has been launched jointly by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka and the Small Business Development Division of the Ministry vested with the subject of Youth Affairs with an investment of Rs. 3500 million. Said loan scheme has been implemented through commercial banks and it provides loans to start a business based on a successful project plan. At present, under the said loan scheme, 13890 entrepreneurs have been provided with Rs. 3064 million. Accordingly, taking into consideration the nature of the project and the compliance with the current needs, the proposal made by the Minister of Youth and Sports, to provide loans to young entrepreneurs within the age of 18 and 40, subject to a maximum of one million rupees, for the implementation of new small and medium scale projects in the following business sectors, was approved by the Cabinet.

* IT and computer related projects.
* Agricultural, dairy and animal husbandry projects.
* Projects related to tourism promotion.
* Projects related to innovations and innovative machinery and plants.
* Food processing products and related projects.