Secretary to the Treasury S R Attygalle has strongly denied the allegations made by Deputy Governor of the Central Bank Nandalal Weerasinghe claiming that it was his fault that immediate aid provided to local businesses affected by COVID-19 pandemic was delayed.
Attygalle has revealed that even though he has requested the Central Bank to release required funds at an interest rate of 1% to the commercial banks so that they can provide 4% concessionary interest rates to businesses that have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic,Central Bank has tried to implement a program of granting a credit guarantee to banks instead of concessionary interest loans, which has made the situation worse.
He has also said that providing concessionary loans was delayed due to non-compliance of commercial banks.
However, after the President instructed the Central Bank authorities to carry out this task immediately, the Central Bank implemented his suggestion, which was tabled a few months ago, within a few hours.
Attygalle has said that those who are responsible cannot get away by putting the blame on him.
Source - Deshaya