The Australian government and the Central Bank of Sri Lanka are partnering to expand financial literacy training for micro, small and medium enterprises, the Australian High Commission in Colombo said on Thursday.
The initiative runs under Australia’s Skills for Inclusive Economy (S4IE) program, which is reworking the central bank’s existing MSME learning modules into mobile-first, trilingual content aimed at reaching entrepreneurs across the island.
“We’re helping transform key learning modules into accessible, mobile-first content — trilingual, inclusive, and designed to reach more entrepreneurs across the island,” the embassy said in a statement carried by EconomyNext.
The program is designed to build stronger financial capability and widen access to credit for small businesses, the statement said.
The announcement lands the same day the International Monetary Fund reached a staff-level agreement with Sri Lanka on its combined fifth and sixth reviews, unlocking about US$700 million in financing once approved by the IMF board. Bilateral development partnerships with Australia and other partners have played a supporting role in the post-crisis reform program, which has placed heavy emphasis on getting working capital back to small firms shut out of formal credit during the 2022–2023 collapse.
MSMEs account for the overwhelming majority of non-agricultural enterprises in Sri Lanka and are widely seen as the binding constraint on employment recovery. Commercial lenders have been criticised in recent weeks for blocking access to a Rs. 95 billion government-backed credit line intended for exactly this segment.
