Navin to submit Cabinet proposal on moratorium for tea factories

Plantation Industries Minister Navin Dissanayake yesterday said a proposal on restructuring capital payments of financially troubled tea factories will be soon submitted to for Cabinet approval.

“The financially troubled tea factories have requested a capital moratorium on their interest payments. I have instructed the Ministry to draft a Cabinet paper on this which will soon be submitted,” he told media in Colombo yesterday.

Noting that Cabinet will decide how they are going to restructure the capital payments of the tea companies faced with financial difficulties, the Minister believes the banks would be able to assist them.

However, he said that many of the tea factories have also borrowed from loan sharks at exorbitant rates, which they are now struggling to repay.

“These people have gone and borrowed over their heads and now expect the Government to bail them out,” he stressed.

The Minister said only less than 10 companies have been shut down so far due to the financial difficulties.