Despite the announcement made by the government, the apparel industry is yet to receive the concessionary loan from the banks under the emergency Covid refinance scheme towards payment of the employees’ basic wage for the months of April to June industry sources have now revealed.
The industry had made a request to the government to support them with short term funding to meet basic overheads such as payment of 50% of the salary per month for two months to those who are not able to come to work to factories that employ less than 3000 at 4% interest. A request was also made for the deferment of EPF/ETF payments.
Upon inquiry, the JAAF has been informed that none of the companies have received the said loans expected to have been released by the government through the Central Bank, according to Mr. Tuli Cooray Secretary General of JAAF. Further, there has been no support even from the utility service providers, though the government announced it.
If these promised relief had come at least now, it would have been a kind of “Life Support” to these SME factories. We need this support now in order to avoid a total collapse, Mr. Tuli Cooray Secretary General of JAAF said.
The industry strongly believes that the refinancing package of Rs.50bn offered by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka is grossly inadequate to meet the demands of all sectors including that of the apparel industry. Noting the developments that are taking place in other competing countries, we believe that the Central Bank of Sri Lanka is required to come up with a stimulus package of at least Rs.150 bn. These are not handouts but are concessionary loans repayable by the companies over a period of time and we demand that the announcement made indicating the desire of the government to support the industry be realistically implemented by the relevant institution, it will be the responsibility of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka to follow suit and offer this stimulus in a much more meaningful and expeditious manner. We also request the utility service providers to be flexible and not put surcharges on the delayed bill payments.
Any kind of tangible support from government institutions are welcome, to ensure that areas such as technology, retention of qualified manpower and safeguarding the skillset he emphasized and active support from the Central Bank of Sri Lanka is the need of the hour since the government’s policy is now put in place.