Dec 5 (Reuters) – The Central Bank of Sri Lanka on Friday asked banks in the cyclone-ravaged country to provide measures including temporary debt relief and grant of new loan facilities to impacted borrowers.
The directions come after Cyclone Ditwah hit the island nation last week, triggering floods and landslides that killed nearly 500 people and impacted about 10% of its population.
The CBSL asked banks to suspend repayments of capital and interest of existing credit facilities of impacted borrowers for a period of three to six months.
The central bank has also asked lenders to suspend late payment fees, credit restructuring fees and penal interest for such borrowers up to the end of next month.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on Friday that Sri Lanka has requested assistance of about $200 million.
Local officials and volunteers have been coordinating to provide cooked food, water, clothes and other essentials to areas affected by the cyclone.
The country’s benchmark stock index has shed nearly 5.4% this week, its worst weekly fall in over three years.
(Reporting by Hritam Mukherjee in Bengaluru; Editing by Sahal Muhammed)
