Rs. 4,705 m bad debt written off by People’s Bank from 2005-2013

Tuesday, 4 November 2014 01:49 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

By Ashwin Hemmathagama Our Lobby Correspondent

Opposition lawmaker Sajith Premadasa yesterday commended Minister of International Monetary Co-operation and Deputy Minister of Finance and Planning Dr. Sarath Amunugama for reducing the bad debt of People Bank during the nine-year period from 2005-2013. However, MP Premadasa charged priority was being given to the wealthy while neglecting the poor when bad debt is written off. “During the recent past, the drought was the saviour. People had to work for six days just to get the drought relief of Rs. 6,000. But the Government was unable to write-off their debt due to crop failures. I trust you could consider writing off the agriculture loans given to them,” said MP Premadasa. “The likelihood of writing off loans taken by the ordinary people is low; the reason is that they service debt accordingly. Our Government has given a lot of relief to the ordinary people. During President Wijetunga’s period, the bad debt write-off was highly interfered with. Agriculture loans are different and they are given based on collaterals,” said Minister Amunugama, who stated the total bad debt written off by People’s Bank totals Rs. 4,705 million.