Former LTTE cadres have only received a "tiny fraction of money" pledged by the government last year in the form of self-employment loans, Ceylon Today reported.
According to the paper, 7858 of the 12,185 cadres who underwent the government's 'rehabilitation' programme applied for the loan, however only 1799 were deemed eligble.
Banks cited the frequent re-arrest of former cadres by the Terrorism of Investigation Division as adding to their concern about lending.
"Some of them are in prisons, and we don't know how to recover the loans," a bank official told the paper.
The loan is up to Rs 250,000 over 10 years, with one year of grace and at an interest of 4% per annum.
"This newspaper met a large number of these ex-LTTE cadres in the Eastern Province last week. Their inability to obtain a portion of the Rs 524 million to restart their lives was a common lament," Ceylon Today reported.
"What we heard was that the State banks in the Northern and Eastern Provinces are imposing 'restrictions with concerns' on these ex-LTTE combatants when they approach the banks to obtain the loans that were introduced to them by the Finance Ministry last December."
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