Construction industry had requested 1-year relief following tourism Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera on Thursday said that the Finance Ministry would not consider a request for a debt moratorium by the construction industry as it had not been sufficiently affected by the Easter Sunday attacks. “Now everyone wants to get into this bandwagon of moratoriums. I don’t think the construction industry has been affected by what happened after Easter,” said Samaraweera, in response to a query by The Sunday Morning Business on Thursday (30). However, he added that he was open to a discussion on general issues the industry is facing, which were unrelated to the Easter attacks. “They may be having other issues, which we will discuss with them. But it cannot be based on the Easter bombing.” Following the Government’s provision of a debt moratorium to the tourism sector, the construction industry too had requested the Government for a one-year moratorium to ensure its sustenance amidst mounting financial troubles. The request was made earlier this month by the industry representative body, Chamber of Construction Industry Sri Lanka (CCISL), citing long-running financial issues which had been exacerbated by the Easter attacks. A “relief package” with a one year moratorium was announced and finalised by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka for the tourism sector until 31 March 2020 for both capital and interest payments granted to the sector as of 18 April 2019. CCISL President Eng. Maj. Ranjith Gunatilleke told The Sunday Morning Business at the time that the request had been made during a meeting with Minister of Housing, Construction, and Cultural Affairs Sajith Premadasa and a representative of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe along with officials of other relevant ministries. “There are many construction companies going bankrupt. Many companies have purchased machinery, equipment, and various items but are unable to give them on hire. We are negotiating with the Government for a lot of assistance. Minister Premadasa had taken our request up with other ministries. Hopefully, we will get a good response,” said Gunatilleke. He added that the Government was responsible for the plight of the industry as delays in payments by the Government had created severe cash flow issues for the companies, and the Government must release the retention money that it held of various projects. Furthermore, apartment sales which had been slow even prior to Easter had come to a standstill in the aftermath of the attacks, resulting in developers lacking the financial resources to settle their dues to contractors. Sri Lanka’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was Rs. 14,449 billion in 2018 of which the construction sector’s contribution was approximately Rs. 1,083 billion, according to Gunatilleke. The total debt from the construction sector to private and state banks stands at 20% of its contribution to GDP, which comes up to over Rs. 216 billion.