Sri Lanka banks, SMEs meet at Presidents office to discuss parate law, loans
COLOMBO – Sri Lanka’s banks, regulators and small and medium enterprises met at the Presidential Secretariat on Monday (11) to discuss parate execution (foreclosure) and loan repayment difficulties faced by Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs).
The law on parate execution or deciding on auctioning collateral of defaulted loans by banks has been suspended till December 15.
The meeting discussed financial difficulties encountered by SMEs due to loan obligations, the president’s media division (PMD) said in a statement, adding that the meeting considered potential steps that could be taken before the expiration date to further support struggling SMEs.
The meeting was led by the Senior Additional Secretary to the President for Finance and Economic Affairs, G. N. R. D. Aponsu, and included officials from the Ministry of Finance, the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, and Sri Lanka Banks Association (Guarantee) Limited.
Attendees examined ways for the banking sector to provide additional support to SMEs and boost productivity in the economy.
It was decided to compile a comprehensive report on the loans taken by SMEs from banks, the PMD statement said, adding that the report will serve as a basis for designing future relief measures.
“The Central Bank of Sri Lanka and various commercial banks are evaluating the steps needed for the temporary suspension of debt recovery under the Parate law for SME loans,” it said.
The discussion was attended by R. R. S. De Silva Jayathilake, Director of Bank Supervision at the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, and A. M. A. D. Amarakoon, Senior Assistant Director at the Central Bank of Sri Lanka.
Also present were representatives from the Sri Lanka Banks Association (Guarantee) Limited Indrajith Boyagoda, Secretary General, Dilshan Rodrigo, Chief Executive Officer of Union Bank; Manoj Akmeemana, Senior Deputy General Manager of Sampath Bank; Sampath Perera, Deputy General Manager of Bank of Ceylon; Nalin Samaranayake, Assistant General Manager of Commercial Bank; Nirosh Perera, Chief Recovery and Rehabilitation Officer of Hatton National Bank; and Bingumal Thewarathanthri, Chief Executive Officer of Standard Chartered Bank.
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