Microfinance Sector Undergoes Reforms Despite Present Cash Crunch

Source: The Sunday Times

Sri Lanka’s microfinance sector is to undergo reforms with the government’s new strategy of uplifting the living standard of the low-income households who have already been trapped in a vicious debt cycle. The Finance Ministry is now in the process of devising new plans of overhauling the microfinance institutions market with the introduction of public and private sector-driven, subsidized credit and welfare-oriented credit provided by co-operatives and community-based organizations and licensed financial institutions.

The new reforms plan and package of proposals with special focus on poor rural women will be presented to the Parliamentary Select Committee on Gender Equality within a month, a senior of the State Ministry of Microfinance told the Business Times.