The government is building barriers between politicians and state banks to prevent directed lending that eventually goes bad, a top official said.
ldblquote Weve tried hard, as a matter of policy, to build a wall between independent autonomous boards of management of government banks and politicians, dblquote Treasury Secretary Charitha Ratwatte said at an International micro-finance conference held in Colombo.rn
rnldblquote Culturally it is something we have had to struggle over, dblquote notes Ratwatte.rn
rnSoon after the government came to power, the private sector backed UNF administration was under enormous pressure write off bad loans as hundreds of firms found themselves unable to service their loans after the country went through its first recession in half a century.rn
rnA temporary moratorium was announced at a press conference in the Finance Ministry from which most private banks were conspicuously absent.rn
rnPeoples Bank a key local participant of the conference was perhaps the w