The Hon. (Dr.) Harini Amarasuriya - Prime Minister and Minister of Education, Higher Education and Vocational Education

¶ 01 Hon. Speaker, I present the reply to the question raised on 07.01.2026 by Hon. Hector Appuhamy regarding the impact of the “Ditva” cyclone on the national economy.

¶ 02 1. The Government’s compensation mechanism for those affected by the “Ditva” cyclone has been clearly set out through circulars (No. 08/2025 dated 05.12.2025; No. 08/2025(1) dated 20.12.2025; No. 08/2025(II) dated 08.01.2026; and No. 08/2025(III) dated 22.01.2026) issued by the National Budget Department of the Ministry of Finance, Economic Stabilization and National Policies, and Disaster Relief Service Guidelines 07/2026 issued by the Ministry of Defence on 20.03.2026. These are tabled as Annexures 01–04 and Guideline Annex 05.

¶ 03 Line ministries and departments have issued further instructions and paid compensation under their mandates.

¶ 04 Under the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Lands and Irrigation: - Crop damage compensation: Rs. 150,000 per hectare for paddy and other field crops; Rs. 200,000 per hectare for vegetables, fruits and cultivated land damages. - Livestock: compensation programmes based on animal losses on registered farms.

¶ 05 Under the Ministry of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources: - For inland (freshwater) fisheries: funding commenced to provide new boats to replace fully destroyed vessels, repair partially damaged ones, and supply nets to eligible fishers.

¶ 06 For MSMEs, the Ministry of Industries and Enterprise Development and Disaster Relief Service Guidelines 07/2026 (Annex 05) provide instructions for compensation to micro, small and medium business owners.

¶ 07 Accordingly, compensation is being paid and continues at present.

¶ 08 2. To help MSMEs restart operations post-“Ditva,” a working capital concessional loan scheme at 3 percent per annum through the three state banks (Bank of Ceylon, People’s Bank, and Regional Development Bank) was introduced from 16.12.2025, and from 01.01.2026 extended also to large enterprises. Rs. 5,000 million was initially allocated.

¶ 09 The scheme was further expanded by signing participation agreements with 12 additional state and private banks, adding Rs. 5,000 million more. From 02.02.2026, 15 banks operate the scheme.

¶ 10 Total allocation is Rs. 10,000 million. As at 28.04.2026, 2,980 enterprises received Rs. 3,812.48 million in working capital loans: micro 945 beneficiaries (Rs. 238.25 million), small 1,727 (Rs. 1,748.73 million), medium 108 (Rs. 1,352.50 million), and large 20 (Rs. 473 million).

¶ 11 Eligibility requires proof that the business was active at the time of the cyclone and suffered damage, certified by the Grama Niladhari and Divisional Secretary of the area.

¶ 12 Banks compute working capital needs (up to two months) per case. A six-month grace period and up to three years repayment are allowed (typically up to two years, extended to three given scale of disruption).

¶ 13 Further, licensed commercial and specialized banks, per Central Bank directions (Circular 04 of 2025—Annex 06), granted moratoria of three or six months to directly affected individuals and businesses, waived cheque return charges, stopped payments, late fees, restructuring/conversion fees, and penal interest until 31.01.2026, and were directed to provide new credit facilities case-by-case.

¶ 14 7. For livelihood and enterprise recovery, four institutions under the Disaster Management arm of the Ministry of Defence—the National Building Research Organisation, Disaster Management Centre, Disaster Relief Services Centre, and Department of Meteorology—are implementing measures (Annex 07-A). Additional sectoral plans are tabled: Ministry of Industries and Entrepreneurship Development (Annex 08), Mass Media (Annex 09), Agriculture/Livestock/Lands/Irrigation (Annex 10), and Fisheries/Aquatic/Marine Resources (Annex 11).

¶ 15 8. Each line ministry has prepared forward plans to minimize future disaster damage in their domains (Annexes 07-A to 11). Annexes 01–11 are placed in the Library.