The Sri Lanka Business Alliance (SLBA) said that they have brought their grievances to the government on many occasions but with no avail. If the government keeps on cold shouldering the SME sector they will collectively halt paying banks rentals and leasing installment from July 14, 2022.
“Our total debt to banks is around Rs. 500 million and further Rs.150 million is due from us for the leasing sector,” said Vice president of SLBA Susantha Liyanarachchi. This is about 6% of the total landings from the banking sector and banks will be in a position to offer us moratoria and sustain for six months.
He said that over the past 18 months they have been requesting for moratoria from the Prime Minister, Finance and others Minister and Central Bank top officials without any progress.
“We have now come to a point that we cannot go on any longer and hence will have no other option but to take self default on bank payments and leasing installments. He threatened that over 75,000 SME sector debtors to banks will start defaulting the banks and leasing companies as they are genuinely not able to pay from July 14.
President SLBA Tanya Tania Abeysundara said that the SME sector contributes around 52% to the GDP and provides 4.5 million jobs. In addition we also help to stop imports and save dollars by manufacturing products locally. “Our import substitution is also over USD 500 million.”
In addition the SME sector is also faced with shortage of raw material due to import restrictions. Though there was an Indian credit line spelt out by the government the SME sector is yet to receive them.
Another member of the association Himal Ariyasena said that in addition to these issues there is a possibility of going back to 4 or 5 hour power cuts again and the government is yet to come up with a proper system to meet the fuel requirements of the SME sector. “Currently the government is imposing a century old very faulty system of issuing tokens when this can be easily done with an app that can be designed in less than one hour.
SLBA also said that they are made aware that the US government has granted USD 120 million towards the SME sector but to date we have not received any feedback on this.
The SLBA in one voice also stressed that the SME sector unlike tourism or agriculture do not have a specific Minister nor a dedicated SME bank and they feel very disappointed that successive governments have not looked at this aspect and have not given the due recognism given to the SME sector in other countries in Sri Lanka.
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