HSBC International opens branch in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Friday, 12 February 2010, 03:19 GMT]
British High Commissioner to Sri Lanka Mr. Peter Hayes and HSBC Executive Director for Sri Lanka and Maldives officially opened Thursday a branch of HSBC International Bank on Kaangkeasanthu’rai Road in Jaffna town, sources in Jaffna said. The Governor of Sri Lanka Central Bank Mr. Ajith Nivard Cabraal who was also present on the occasion said that a sum of 270 million rupees have been earmarked for development projects in Northern Province but failed to reveal any such project for the current year, the sources added.

Mr. Carbraal said that 72 percent of the Vanni IDPs held in the detention camps have been resettled and the rest will be resettled within the next 3 months, an issue that has been given priority by the government.

He further said that Sri Lanka depends on Britain and other international countries for their financial assistance in resettling IDPs.

The branches of banks opened in Jaffna will help the people with various development projects under the government’s development programme for the North, he added.

As the Governor of Central Bank has not mentioned any development project in Jaffna district for the current year it emerges that the government does not have any such plan despite its much publicized ‘Vadakkin Vasantham’, civil society sources in Jaffna observed.

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