Press briefing of Cabinet Decision taken on 2015-12-02 |
Microfinance Bill - Presently, the Microfinance Sector in Sri Lanka has achieved a considerable level of maturity. As a result, diverse types of institutions such as co‑operative societies, commercial banks, development banks, non‑governmental organizations and international non-governmental organizations have joined with small scale lending institutions. At present, the regulation and supervision of microfinance institutions in Sri Lanka are being carried out through various government agencies which adopt different regulatory requirements and standards. Due to the complex nature of this field, if regulation and supervision are not carried out properly, it would lead to inefficiency in the microfinance sector, misuse of the methodologies followed and cause numerous hardships to low income people who benefit from small scale lending institutions. As such, the proposal made by Hon. Ranil Wickremasinghe, the Prime Minister, in his capacity as the Minister of National Policies and Economic Affairs, to present the proposed Microfinance Bill, containing provisions for the regulation and supervision of microfinance institutions in Sri Lanka, in Parliament, was approved by the Cabinet. |
