The Hon. Ravi Karunanayake
Hon. Ravi Karunanayake argued that economic recovery requires a clear government policy to support SMEs, which he said make up about 70 per cent of the economy and cannot recover under 13–15 per cent interest rates. He asked how the Government would reduce rates to 8–9 per cent, address the mismatch faced by borrowers whose rates rose from 10–12 per cent to about 30 per cent, and strengthen SMEs to mobilize Rs. 3.3 trillion and achieve 15 per cent growth.
Verbatim record (translated)
Machine-translated from Sinhala / Tamil / English¶ 01 Only by improving the economy can we develop the country; hence a clear policy is needed. SMEs—around 70% of the economy—cannot recover at 13-15% interest. This must be a government policy, not only a Central Bank issue. How will you bring rates down to 8-9% to revive SMEs? They borrowed at 10-12% in 2020 but were forced to pay 30%; realignment has not happened. How will SMEs be strengthened to find the Rs. 3.3 trillion needed and achieve 15% growth, so the economy avoids difficulty? How can we work together?
Provenance
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- Hansard, Tuesday, 7 January 2025 ·No. 1736487038022510 ·English daily/uncorrected Hansard
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Cite as: The Hon. Ravi Karunanayake. 10th Parliament, Parliament of Sri Lanka. Hansard, 7 January 2025. No. 1736487038022510. Politick, https://staging.politick.io/lk/speeches/15920