Financial assistance to MSME industrialists

• Proposal approved by Cabinet recently; full details out next week
• Govt. establishes Guarantee Fund under Finance Ministry to support inventors with no capital 
• Initiative supported by ADB
• Minister Weerawansa commends SLCSMI initiative to support industrialists

By Charumini de Silva

Industries Minister Wimal Weerawansa

The Cabinet of Ministers has approved an initiative to provide financial assistance to micro, small and medium

enterprise (MSME) industrialists who are grappling to continue business due to adverse impacts of the COVID pandemic.

The proposal to this effect submitted by Industries Minister Wimal Weerawansa had been by the Cabinet of Ministers, with few amendments.

“I presented a Cabinet proposal titled 'Difficulties Faced by Small and Medium Enterprises’. The proposal made to the Cabinet meeting held two weeks ago was approved with few amendments. We are ready to publish all the contents in another week,” the Minister said during a webinar held on Saturday.

The event titled ‘Empowering MSMEs to embrace the new normal’ – a capacity building of Sri Lanka Chamber of Small and Medium Industries (SLCSMI), was powered by the Institute of Money and Entrepreneurship Development (IMED).

The Minister said this initiative will provide financial relief to SME industrialists that are faced with various difficulties amidst the pandemic.

“These entrepreneurs need a little financial support to continue with their business activities that were impacted with the pandemic,” he said, adding that globally all countries are faced with economic difficulties.

“The entire world is faced with the most unprecedented pandemic and all economies are faced with different challenges. The economy's activities have been impacted severely and all industries are making every effort to stay afloat in these uncertain times,” he pointed out.

Weerawansa also said that a Guarantee Fund is now established under the Finance Ministry to support inventors.

“The Guarantee Fund is available for industrialists who can invent market-winning products, but do not have the capital to do so mainly because they are unable to obtain bank loans,” he added.

He said the fund was established with support from the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

The Guarantee Fund was a 2020 Budget proposal, which was implemented by Prime Minister and former Finance Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa.

The Minister commended the ‘Empowering MSMEs to embrace the new normal’ initiative by the SLCSMI which helps to build the mindset of entrepreneurs and industrialists.

“If the mindset breaks down, entrepreneurs will not be able to overcome the challenges despite their financial capabilities. That encouragement is essential at this moment – to revitalise a broken-minded entrepreneur, an industrialist, by pointing out their weaknesses and assuring them with a ‘you can’ mindset to overcome the challenges. The Chamber has stepped in to fill a key void in the industry,” he added.

Noting that he had always listened to the demands of the SLCSMI, the Minister assured the correlation with the institute will continue to be good.