Enterprise Sri Lanka loans hit Rs.79bn mark

• 46, 676 total loan facilities; of that 22, 544 were housing loans
• Loans targeting farming community top 21, 000
• 1, 339 loans to install solar panels; 661 loans for journalists 
• Finance Ministry spent Rs.5.2bn in 2018 on interest payments 
• Allocates Rs.6.1bn this year for full or partial interest payments

The Finance Ministry yesterday revealed that over Rs.78.6 billion worth of loans have been disbursed under the Enterprise Sri Lanka concessionary loan programme through 46, 673 loan facilities.

The programme, which is conceptualized by Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera, is aimed at creating 100, 000 entrepreneurs.

A Finance Ministry statement said 20, 286 loan facilities were given under the ‘Sonduru Piyasa’ scheme while 2, 258 loans given under the ‘Jaya Isura’ scheme, which is also aimed at enabling home ownership.

Meanwhile, 20, 821 loans were given under the ‘Ran Aswenna’ and ‘Govi Navoda’ schemes targeting the farming community. 

Also, under the ‘Rivi Bala Savi’ scheme 1, 339 loans were granted to install eco-friendly solar panels, while 661 loans were given to journalists to buy new media equipment and repair the existing ones. 

The government launched the Enterprise Sri Lanka programme on June 21, 2018, and by the end of that year, 39, 000 loans were granted by the State and private sector banks in the country.

The Finance Ministry said the treasury spent little over Rs.5.2 billion to pay the interest component of these loans to the banks fully or partially.  

The Budget 2019 introduced more loan schemes under programmes such as ‘Sihina Maligaa’ housing loan scheme for migrant workers, ‘Home Sweet Home’ for newly married and ‘Mage Anaagathaya’ for students to pursue higher education.

The Budget 2019 allocated Rs.6.1 billion for interest payments of these loans. 

Meanwhile, the Finance Ministry launched the Enterprise Sri Lanka mobile services in Weligama a couple of weeks back in order to take the programme to the masses even more. 
The Finance Ministry said over 7, 000 people attended the event and 1, 327 people registered to be considered for loans by State banks.