The Sub-Committee appointed by the Ministerial Consultative Committee on Rural Development, Social Security and Community Empowerment has instructed officials to take steps to collect data on individuals who are unable to repay microfinance loans in 4 Divisional Secretariat Divisions in the districts of Nuwara Eliya, Batticaloa, Polonnaruwa and Colombo.

The directive was issued during a meeting of the Sub-committee on Future Steps to Address the Microfinance Lending Problem held in Parliament recently (10) under the patronage of its Chairperson, Member of Parliament Samanmalee Gunasinghe.

The Chairperson of the Sub-Committee stated that as a pilot project data will first be collected from four Divisional Secretariat Divisions located in the districts of Nuwara Eliya (Hatton), Batticaloa (South Koralaipattu), Polonnaruwa (Welikanda), and Colombo (Wellawatte).   

Accordingly, the Chairperson instructed the Ministry officials to take the necessary steps to collect the information.

The meeting also featured in-depth discussions on potential relief mechanisms for individuals struggling with microfinance debt, and on the means of intervention to support and possibly rehabilitate affected borrowers.

It was further decided to summon 34 microfinance institutions currently registered with the Lanka Microfinance Practitioners’ Association to discuss what relief measures could be offered to indebted clients and what collaborative solutions could be developed.

This meeting was attended by a group of government officials including Members of Parliament Chathuri Gangani, Attorney-at-Law Thushari Jayasinghe, Attorney-at-Law Anushka Thilakaratne and Sunil Rathnasiri.