The Central Bank of Sri Lanka, as of 15th October 2020, approved 61,907 loan applications received from COVID-19 affected businesses. These applications were for a total of Rs. 177,954 million and registered under the three Phases of the Saubagya COVID-19 Renaissance Facility. So far, the Licensed Banks have released loans amounting to Rs. 133,192 million among 45,582 affected businesses island-wide (See Table 1 for details).
Phase I of the Loan Scheme was implemented with effect from 1st April 2020. Both Phase II and III of the Loan Scheme were introduced with effect from 1st July 2020. The intension of these schemes was to provide a total of Rs. 150 billion as working capital loans at interest rate of 4 per cent per annum. These loans enjoyed a repayment period of 24-months, including a grace period of 6-months. The recipients were the businesses, including self-employment and individuals, adversely affected by the COVID-19 outbreak.