Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera who was in Jaffna overseeing the implementation of the entrepreneurship loan scheme to young people in the Northern Province on Sunday, also held a series of meetings with war affected people to help them make use of the opportunity under the Enterprise Sri Lanka Exhibition to obtain loans.
In the morning, the Minister met with members of the Small and Medium Entrepreneur Associations at the Jaffna Kachcheri.
The Minister announced at this meeting that the government had decided to offer interest subsidized loans up to 1.5 million rupees under the Enterprise Sri Lanka loan scheme without obtaining collateral. He said that there is no need for women of the War Widows Association and the ex-combatants to look for two surety guarantees. The minister emphasized that the government was mindful of the hardships faced by the Northern people during the last thirty years and especially the hardships faced by women led families.
“Let bygones be bygones. We are here to lift your livelihood facilities by giving you interest subsidized loans,” declared the minister.
On the instructions of Minister Mangala Samaraweera, the Jaffna GA is to arrange a two day workshop this coming Friday and Saturday to help and train prospective entrepreneurs to prepare their proposals to be submitted to the banks.
The Northern area Managers of State Banks who were present at this meeting, agreed to send in their representatives too, to make their proposals viable for them to obtain their loans.
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