(COLOMBO, LANKAPUVATH) –Minister of Finance and Mass Media, Mangala Samaraweera has said under the Enterprise Sri Lanka Loan Scheme, which is being implemented to motivate young entrepreneurs, loans have been granted to 29,389 entrepreneurs island-wide.
Accordingly, Rs, 58.817 billion has been distributed under the Enterprise Sri Lanka program, the Minister said speaking at a press conference held at the Finance Ministry Tuesday (23rd) to inform the public about the concessionary loan scheme.
The press conference was held to introduce the dedicated hotline, 1925 Instant Information Service launched yesterday to assist entrepreneurs with their inquiries and to submit their feedback on the Enterprise Sri Lanka credit scheme.
In addition to the three banks which implement the Enterprise Sri Lanka program namely, Bank of Ceylon, the People’s Bank and the Regional Development Bank, 18 private and state banks have agreed to join the program, he said.
Mr. Samaraweera said that the public can get instant solutions through the 1925 hotline introduced today to the problems they would encounter when applying for loans. They can also submit the complaints and suggestions about the service to the hotline.
Speaking further the Minister said at the end of the last budget, in November 2017 they presented the Enterprise Sri Lanka concept to regain the country’s historical pride, especially as a country centered on trade.
“The loan scheme was started a few months ago. A very good progress is seen so far. Especially during the past three months, we have provided 29,389 loans under this program. Also, over Rs. 58,817 million has been given to the people. From the way it spreads across the country, it seems that this program is very popular,” he said.
According to the Minister, 1,476 loan proposals have already been received from Kandy, 1,048 from Matale, 772 from Nuwara Eliya, 1,299 from Ampara, 912 from Batticaloa, 510 from Trincomalee, 1,222 from Anuradhapura, 782 from Polonnaruwa, 497 from Jaffna, 1,341 from Galle, 4,842 from Hambantota, 1,481 from Matara, and 2,780 from Colombo.
