Treasury talking to banks, insurers to help SMEs, industries

THE Government is in talks with the insurance and banking sectors to help households, SMEs and businesses hit by Cyclone Ditwah while keeping the 2026 macroeconomic trajectory and reform agenda intact, Treasury Secretary Dr. Harshana Suriyapperuma told the Sri Lanka Economic and Investment Summit yesterday.

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He acknowledged concerns that the poorest households, those who have lost homes and small and medium enterprises are less resilient to a shock of this scale, and that some fear the crisis could derail reforms.

Dr. Suriyapperuma said the authorities were in active dialogue with the financial system to contain the economic fallout.

"We have reached out to the banking and insurance sectors to understand what the impact is on their clients and customers and how to work together as a team to take the country forward." He added that he would be meeting the insurance regulator and industry leaders shortly, saying, "We want to understand their response so that we are able to help businesses get back on their feet very quickly and support individuals to contribute back into the economy."

He stressed that the objective is to minimise business disruption and income losses in the real economy. "This is to ensure that the livelihood of people is not disturbed, or that disturbance is minimised to the maximum extent possible," Dr. Suriyapperuma said.

Setting out the fiscal response, Dr. Suriyapperuma said emergency Budget lines had been pre-provisioned and were now being activated.

"Budgetary provisions for emergency situations are already available. From that, nearly Rs. 30 billion is now set aside to meet the immediate challenges that we have at hand and keep the financial discipline that we brought into the system."

He noted that the Treasury has started releasing funds for housing support. "We authorised Rs. 7.5 billion to be released from the Treasury for those exercises. Those funds will go into the homes requiring assistance to start the rebuilding process."

To speed implementation, spending powers have been pushed down the chain of command.