BY SKANDHA GUNASEKARA The Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) has released only Rs. 6 billion of the Rs. 50 billion allocated for the refinancing scheme announced in March for private banks, according to Ministry of Finance and Treasury Secretary S.R. Attygalle. “The Central Bank told me that as of today (12, Friday), they had released around Rs. 6 billion to private banks. This is not sufficient, but we hope they will streamline the process as soon as possible,” Attygalle told The Sunday Morning on Friday. The refinancing scheme was initiated to help banks provide urgent working capital loans to support businesses hit by the Covid-19 pandemic. Despite the lack of transmission of this facility to the private banks, the Cabinet of Ministers last week approved an additional Rs. 100 billion for the refinancing scheme. “The Central Bank has agreed to put Rs. 150 billion in total, but not all of it has been released. Also, they have to find a way to get this money as well. So that issue will also have to be addressed before the monies can be released,” the Treasury Secretary said. In addition, Attygalle said that he expected the process would be expedited this week. “Yes, I would like to see more money going out, but the process has to be streamlined and expedited. I believe by next week, it'll be done quicker,” he said. Meanwhile, several officials from private banks told The Sunday Morning that they are unable to provide the working capital loans without the funds being released by the CBSL. “We cannot provide customers with a 4% (interest) working capital loan without the Central Bank releasing the funds to us. The Government should take up the issue with the Central Bank, and not us,” a head of a private bank who wished to remain anonymous told The Sunday Morning. President Gotabaya Rajapaksa on Thursday (11) warned that he would not hesitate to remove officials of the CBSL or state banks from their positions if they failed to take steps to implement the guidelines formulated by the Government. All attempts to reach CBSL Senior Deputy Governor Dr. Nandalal Weerasinghe were unsuccessful.