Business seeks grace period on loans, low interest rates
Some chambers have sent a letter to the President and the Prime Minister requesting a grace period to pay business loans and lower interest rates on them if possible, officials said.
Still reeling from the aftermath of the Easter terror attacks, companies are bracing themselves for tough times. Aminda Rodrigo, Chairman COYLE told the Business Times that his chamber is one of the co-signatories to a letter sent to the two leaders requesting for concessions. “In the letter we have requested the President and the Prime Minister to instruct the Central Bank which in turn will instruct the banks to reduce the loan interest on our businesses.”
The April 25 letter said: “The economic situation in the country in the past 12 months, which was severely exacerbated by the Easter Sunday terrorist, attacks on April 21 has affected all industries throughout the island. Since the aforementioned attack,
the private sector which is the backbone of the economy has been significantly affected by low productivity and loss of revenue while facing mandatory financial obligations to their respective lending institutions. We believe that without government intervention and support at this juncture, this situation will rapidly deteriorate into a situation that would undoubtedly cause a ripple effect resulting in dire consequences to the entire economy.”
COYLE on behalf of its member companies has requested the President and the PM to instruct the Central Bank to instruct the lending institutions to grant a grace period on loan repayments and restructuring of loans.
“The above concessions will cascade from businesses to their clients and we will see a gradual ease of monetary flow in the economy. This will in return increase consumer spending power, increasing aggregate demand and increase in manufacturing – inducing economic growth. We sincerely hope economic stability to be restored and businesses to have the ability to repay within the mentioned tenor.” Apart from COYLE, the Alliance of Lankan Entrepreneurial Chambers has signed the letter.