Micro-finance regulatory authority soon: Mangala

The government will introduce a micro-finance regulatory authority and formulate a micro-finance framework within three months in a move to protect people faced with issues of micro-finaning, Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera told parliament yesterday.

He said this when responding to a question asked by Opposition leader Mahinda Rajapaksa on rural people who were inconvenienced by institutions dealing in micro-finance.

The minister said the bill to establish this authority would be submitted in parliament within the next three months.

He said and admitted to the fact that rural people especially women had faced serious issues due to loans obtained from micro-finance organisations.

"Loans obtained by 45,000 women from micro-finance organizations were waived off about two months ago. According to 2015 budget proposal, 36,000 women were paid Rs.94 million to redeem their mortgaged jewellery. We waived off loans amounting to Rs.736 million obtained by 57,000 farmers while 115,000 drought-affected people were paid Rs.1.2 billion in 12 districts," minister said. (Ajith Siriwardana and Yohan Perera)