With a view to further support the sector, the Honourable Vice-Prime Minister and Minister of Finance and Economic Development had announced in the Budget Speech 2012, that the banking sector would extend credit facilities to SMEs for an amount of Rs3 billion over the next three years at 3 percentage points above the prevailing Key Repo Rate.
Credit facilities granted to the SMEs at end-September 2011 amounted to about Rs16 billion. Following the announcement in the Budget Speech 2012, fourteen banks have been earmarked to grant credit facilities to the SMEs effective 1 December 2011.