‘Mahaveli Aruna’ concessionary loan scheme to Mahaweli farmers
View(s):Sri Lanka’s Mahaveli Authority together with the People’s Bank has launched a special concessionary loan scheme titled ‘Mahaveli Aruna’ to help the economy of the farming community in the Mahaveli Zones.
Handing over the MoU
Under this loan scheme, a maximum loan amount of up to Rs. 200,000 will be offered to various sectors such as agriculture, livestock, purchase of agricultural equipment, maintaining of commercial farms, various non-agricultural businesses and services.
The loan will be granted under a concessionary interest rate of 9 per cent for three years while a grace period of three months will be given for repayment of the loan. Two members from the Mahaveli community can be guarantors of the loan, the bank said in an announcement.
For this purpose a MoU was signed under the patronage of Nimal Siripala de Silva, the Minister of Irrigation and Water Resources Management at the ministry premises. The event was attended by N. Vasantha Kumar, CEO /General Manager of People’s Bank, T.A. Ariyapala, Deputy General Manager (Co-operative Development and SME), Ivan de Silva – Secretariat to the Ministry, Gamini Rajakaruna, Director General of Sri Lanka Mahaveli Authority and K. P. Christy Perera, Project Development Director of Mahaveli Authority.
Minister de Silva pointed out that under the ‘Mahinda Chinthana Programme’ the government has created steps to enhance the value of agricultural produce by adding various production elements instead of marketing it as raw material and by doing so can generate more income as well as generate more employment opportunities. He said for the first time ever, thousand Mahaveli entrepreneurs are expected to be granted a loan amount of 100 million rupees within this year.
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