13 March 2021 03:11 am
People’s Bank yet again came forward to serve the national interests by extending support to the Sri Lankan government’s efforts to procure and import the first 500,000 doses of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine to Sri Lanka.
This transaction was supported by a trade loan extended by HSBC to People’s Bank.
Owing to the timely decision by the Sri Lankan government to expedite the COVID-19 vaccination initiatives, Sri Lanka currently ranks among some of the highest per capita vaccinated Asian nations. A rapid and an effective vaccination programme will be a vital factor for the revival of the economy, especially in the Western province, where most critical economic activities take place.
Commenting on the role of People’s Bank in this important transaction, CEO/GM Ranjith Kodituwakku stated, “As a state bank, People’s Bank will always come forward to play a national role when the country and its people require our support most. This is just another such an instance where we aptly demonstrated our deep sense of national duty and commitment towards mother Sri Lanka. We also must thank State Pharmaceutical Corporation (SPC) for actively coordinating importation of this important stock of vaccination at a critical juncture. We are proud to have been enjoying a mutually beneficial banking relationship with SPC, which spans 50 years and we look forward to work closely with them on many more important transactions like this in the future.”
Last year also, People’s Bank played a pivotal role to combat the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic by facilitating importation of medicine and medical equipment during the height of the COVID crisis in April 2020.
In fact, the bank was recognised with the prestigious Trade Deal of the Year Award from the Asian Development Bank’s Trade Finance Programme Awards 2020 for the aforementioned trade transaction.
People’s Bank is the country’s premiere licensed commercial bank with Sri Lanka’s largest banking footprint comprised of 741 branches and service centres islandwide.