The daily Aruna newspaper reported today (09).The Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) reports that the public has borrowed Rs. 643 billion from jewelery pawning centers of commercial banks and financial institutions during the last six months of this year,
Gold loans have been significantly increased recently, with commercial banks raising the value from Rs. 57,000 to Rs. 60,000 per pound and the Central Bank reducing the annual interest rate on gold loans to 10%. It was also reported that the amount of gold given by some private financial institutions has been increased to 65,000 rupees per pound.
It has also been revealed that one out of every four credit card users in the country is currently unable to repay their loans and 41% of credit card users have defaulted on their loans. According to the report, the total number of credit card transactions in the second quarter of 2020 was 38.3 billion rupees, of which 15.7 billion rupees were defaulted.
This news shows the plight of the people of the country. The seriousness of the tragedy that Corona caused to Sri Lanka. Since the first wave of corona came last March, the people of this country have been living in severe economic hardship. The whole country has been inactive for about two months due to the blockage of all economic avenues.