Press briefing of Cabinet Decision taken on 2018-07-24

Debt Relief for Micro Finance Loans Granted for women in Drought Affected Districts

- The Micro Finance Institutions are providing micro finance loans to women adopting a door to door strategy of interest rate amounting to 40 percent to 220 percent per annum. Due to the unfeasible high risk in Economic activities and loans granted for consumption purposes, the micro finance loan recipients in the rural sector have fallen into a debt-trap and it has become a serious crisis at present. Therefore, the proposal made by Hon. Mangala Samaraweera, the Minister of Finance and Mass Media, to implement a debt relief programme to coincide with the 'Enterprise Sri Lanka' for the emancipation of women living in the drought affected Districts, of the said indebtedness, was approved by the Cabinet.