The Hon. Ravi Karunanayake
Ravi Karunanayake questioned why Samurdhi lending rates remain at 12–14 per cent when commercial banks lend to agriculture at 6–8 per cent, arguing this is unfair to borrowers and asking what steps can reduce the rates. He also urged that Samurdhi banks be brought under Central Bank oversight in the context of IMF engagement and the upcoming tranche, noting that the 2013 Act cited in the response may be an obstacle.
Verbatim record (translated)
Machine-translated from Sinhala / Tamil / English¶ 01 Hon. Speaker, Samurdhi competes with microfinance. When commercial banks lend to agriculture at 6%–8%, Samurdhi lending at 12%–14% is unfair to borrowers. What can be done to reduce rates? Also, with IMF engagement, these banks should come under Central Bank oversight — relevant to the upcoming tranche. Your answer cites the 2013 Act; that may be an obstacle.
Provenance
- Source
- Hansard, Thursday, 25 September 2025 ·No. 1759483897051145 ·English daily/uncorrected Hansard
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- not yet extracted — page/column anchors are not in the current dataset; the source PDF is the citable location.
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/lk/speeches/20056
Cite as: The Hon. Ravi Karunanayake. 10th Parliament, Parliament of Sri Lanka. Hansard, 25 September 2025. No. 1759483897051145. Politick, https://staging.politick.io/lk/speeches/20056