Sri Lanka Central Bank asked all banks to pay 15-pct interest to 60+ depositors

Feb 26, 2015 (LBO) – Sri Lanka's Central Bank has asked all the banks to pay 15 percent interest for term deposits of up to a million rupees, held by depositors over 60 years of age, the bank said in a statement. Senior citizens who opened fixed deposits up to 2.5 million rupees before the 16.01.2015 under the previous scheme would also get 12 percent interest, the bank said.

The rule applied to all banks.

The full statement by the Central Bank is reproduced below:

The Government of Sri Lanka has now finalised the procedure for implementation of the Special Interest Scheme for Senior Citizens announced in the Interim Budget 2015 with effect from 01.02.2015.

Accordingly, the Central Bank of Sri Lanka issued the necessary Operating Instructions on behalf of the Government to all banks today.

Key features of the Scheme are as follows:

â€¢ Senior Citizens eligible for the Scheme:

(a) Senior citizens above 60 years of age who held rupee fixed deposits not exceeding Rupees one million in aggregate in all banks as at 31.01.2015.

(b) Senior citizens who reach 60 years of age after 31.01.2015 and hold rupee fixed deposits not exceeding Rupees one million in aggregate