The Central Bank of Sri Lanka through its provincial offices shall look to respond to farmer loan issues within 3 days. This is to help solve the backlog of issues with the disbursement of loans to the agricultural sector.
Regional Development Department Director S K Dharmawardena promised SME farmers that his department would respond within three days to all correspondence with regard to the disbursement of loans to targeted sectors.
Dharmawardena was speaking on March 3 at the launch of the Village to Home distribution scheme of the Cargills group at the Centre for Banking Studies in Rajagiriya. The move comes as part of a broader move to incentivize local production and help produce more things locally.
This initiative is an extension of the Cargills ‘Village to Home’ program through which the Company provides the country’s small and medium entrepreneurs with a platform to engage with a larger network of customers by offering stalls at Cargills FoodCity premises.
CBSL Governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal who declared open the event noted that there was a need for the government to support small sector, private producers.
Cargills Bank Managing Director Senerath Bandara noted that the village to home drive by Cargills had been highly successful. He said that Cargills Bank aimed to be the most inclusive financial entity in the country.
The bank facilitates payments by way of Lanka QR and further also offers banking services through Cargills Food City outlets. Bandara hailed the Central Bank for taking a more active hands-on approach to loan allocation and interfacing with farmers in their recent initiatives. He noted that with more collaboration there could be better disbursement of concessionary loan schemes to deserving borrowers.
CBSL Deputy Governor Mahinda Siriwardana noted that there was a deep need for innovative methods to get loans to new borrowers.
He also hailed the Cargills group for developing new distribution avenues for small scale producers. The event was accompanied by a workshop for SME institutions by the Cargills group to help them better understand the requirements of the modern marketplace.
Recognizing the challenges faced by SMEs in bringing their products to market, such as a lack of financial literacy and awareness about market standards and technology, Cargills plans to offer training workshops for small business owners in collaboration with the Central Bank’s financial literacy training program. Attending SMEs will gain a comprehensive understanding on basic financial literacy, packaging and product development, and quality assurance.
The Company intends to develop these small business owners into successful entrepreneurs who can meaningfully contribute towards the local economy.