GR tells bankers to focus on meeting rural economy needs

• Tells RDB representatives to take needs of the rural community into consideration 
• Calls for investment to drive agricultural entrepreneurship, import substitution efforts
• Says large-scale loan defaulters should be severely dealt with 
• Advocates mechanism to collect debt owed to State banks

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has called for banks to understand the rural economy and support agriculture focused entrepreneurship so import substitution industries could be fostered, the President’s Media Division said yesterday.    

The President had made these statements during a meeting held at the Presidential Secretariat on Thursday, to review the Rural Development Bank (RDB) and discuss its future activities. It is a timely necessity to develop export agricultural businesses instead of waiting for foreign countries to do so. 

The mere establishment of industries alone cannot be defined as development, pointed out the President, adding that rural entrepreneurship centred on agriculture should be promoted. The Government expects to achieve economic growth by developing the agricultural sector while properly assessing needs. President said it is vital to look at the context from the grassroots level. 

In providing loans, commercial banks give priority to the trading sector than to the production sector. It is the responsibility of the RDB to encourage farmers to increase their production. The need of promoting the cultivation of undu, maize, green grams and other varieties of grain without resorting to import them was also stressed. President said it is his wish to see that the rural banks reach the rural community and encourage farmers by setting different targets. 

The loan defaulters who had taken large sums of money on a long-term repayment basis should severely be dealt with according to the law, the President said. He also said a mechanism should be formulated to collect debts owed to the State banks.

President Secretary P.B. Jayasundera, Ministry of Finance Secretary S. R. Attygalle, Central Bank Governor Prof. W. D. Lakshman, RDB Chairman Mahinda Saliya, RDB CEO General Manager T. Kuhan and members of the Board of Directors participated in this meeting.