Prime Minister and Finance Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa has instructed officials to formulate a system that will ease the burden on vehicle owners, giving them a grace period to pay off arrears for leased vehicles due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Prime Minister added that vehicle owners despite being granted a grace period last year, were facing difficulties in repaying their vehicle lease instalments after many financial institutions have requested them to pay both the monthly instalments and arrears incurred which come up to a significant amount on a monthly basis.
He further said that vehicle owners were complaining that certain financial institutions have levied interest that was incurred during the grace period and have added that to instalments that are yet to be paid as well.
The Premier added that while the policies of the financial institutions may differ, they must collectively adhere to the same policy when it comes to settling arrears from the COVID-19 period. The Premier also suggested that documents regarding the terms and conditions upon which these agreements are being signed be made available in Sinhala and Tamil as well.
The Premier gave these instructions during a progress review meeting held at the Finance Ministry yesterday. Taking part in the meeting were owners of leased school vans, buses and three-wheelers. Members of the All Ceylon Office Transport Federation, the All Ceylon School Children Transport Association, the Ceylon Self-Employed Three Wheeler’s Association and the Sunil Jayawardena Foundation participated in the discussion.
