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| Sunday, 14 August 2005 |
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SME Bank chain a boon to entrepreneurs From Don Asoka Wijewardena in Matara The establishment of the SME Bank chain will usher in an era of prosperity,contributing an important segment to the economic development of the country.The primary objective of the Bank is to encourage small and medium scale entrepreneurs and industrialists to upgrade and continue their industries,said Advanced Technology and National Enterprise Development Minister Rohitha Bogollagama at the opening ceremony of SME second branch and SME bank loan disbursement in Matara. Bogollagama said that the setting up of the SME Bank was the brainchild of President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga who allocated Rs. 5,000 million through the budget to provide the credit facilities scheme for the benefit of small and medium scale entrepreneurs and industrialists. He pointed out that small scale industrialists,especially in the tsunami-affected areas were unable to make both ends meet let alone restore their lost industries as some of them were not in a position to pay their water or electricity bills. It was the bounden duty of the government to assist them without red tape to obtain loans to restart their industries, he said. Referring to the tsunami-hit small scale entrepreneurs in the Matara district the Minister said that the SME Bank had decided to assist 16 tsunami-hit craftsmen engaged in the gem and jewellery industry by giving a financial grant of Rs. 8 lakhs. He said that small and medium scale entrepreneurs and industrialists in the Matara district could now use the services of the SME Matara branch as a large number of people engaged in the fisheries, agriculture and cottage industries were affected. Minister Bogollagama said that when he was in the UNP he had called upon the then party to open a bank for the benefit of small and medium scale entrepreneurs and industrialists who had been contributing a significant portion to the economic development and added that his request had fallen on deaf ears as it was catering to the needs of a few people. Ports, Civil Aviation and Deputy Education Minister Mangala Samaraweera said that small and medium scale entrepreneurs and industrialists in the Matara district would be happy to use the services offered by the SME Bank on their behalf with a very low interest. Samaraweera said that many young men and women who were maintaining small scale businesses could now walk to the SME Bank at 93 NSB branches throughout the country and obtain information about the SME Bank's loan scheme. The establishment of the SME Bank was a great achievement of the government which had formulated a constructive plan to support small and medium scale entrepreneurs and industrialists in the country. Referring to housing construction for tsunami-affected in the Matara district, Samaraweera said that most people in the buffer zone had been provided with permanent settlements to live as human beings in permanent houses and assured that almost all fishing communities in the district had resumed their occupation with new fishing gear. He said that arrangements were under way to revamp the Matara court complex and the prisons and added that the establishment of the SME Bank was a boon to the area. Thirty-two entrepreneurs in the Matara district received loan certificates at the opening ceremony. |
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