The amount of money obtained by the public, who throng gold jewellery pawning centres at commercial banks and financial institutes, in the first five months of this year, aggregates to a whopping Rs 633 billion, Parliament was told yesterday.
Minister of Telecommunications and Information Communications Technology, Ranjith Siyambalapitiya, told Parliament that from commercial banks alone people have obtained loans amounting to Rs 599 billion by pawning gold jewellery during the quoted period and it amounted to 20% of total loans released by the banks.
Financial companies had given loans amounting to Rs 32 billion to people who had pawned their gold as security, while the pawning centres had given Rs 11 billion during the same period.
The minister said this while participating in the debate on Resolution under the Customs Ordinance relating to import duties.
By Gagani Weerakoon
CT