Government to assist tourism sector – Eran

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During an event held at the National Chamber of Commerce yesterday(May 22), Minister Eran Wickramaratne, State Minister of Finance noted that there has been a massive drop of foreign tourists during the last few weeks following the April 21st terror attack.

He added that this has resulted in an extra burden on the tourism industry and as compensation, the Ministry has decided to offer a moratorium period of one year for those who are engaged in tourism and taken loans for their business ventures. He further added that the capital payment and the interests could be paid following July of 2020.

He added they have already decided to offer capital loans via Enterprise Sri Lanka program to get the tourism industry back on track and most importantly they have decided to release duties imposed on when importing security equipment. He went on to say that the IMF has decided to offer USD 164mn to Sri Lanka. “Moreover, the Central Bank and the Government are conducting further discussions to gain additional assistance which would be most probably successful” He concluded.