He gave this assurance at a special media briefing held along with the heads of the Bank of Ceylon, People’s Bank and Central Bank officials.

He said that there were several reports alleging that the 15% special interest rate schemes for senior citizens was not being followed by the banks despite guidelines being issued by the Central Bank.

The Central Bank’s Bank Supervision Director Yvette Fernando said, “a senior citizen who has reached 60 years after 31 January could also open a new account and obtain the same interest rate. It would be only applicable for a maximum FD level of Rs. 1 million.”

The Finance Minister said that the objective of the scheme was to provide relief to senior citizens most in need of it hence the FD limit was fixed at Rs. 1 million.

He said that the Government was incurring around Rs. 10-12 billion for this scheme.

It was noted that the Bank of Ceylon had already implemented the 15% special interest scheme for senior citizens. The Bank of Ceylon's General Manager and Chief Executive Officer D. M. Gunasekara said that in order to ensure there won’t be any duplicate accounts, the Bank will require the national identity card number and a statement from the person opening the account.

People’s Bank General Manager and Chief Executive Officer N. Vasantha Kumar, verifying the position of existing customers who possess Rs. 1 million in deposits, said that they would have to transfer it to new accounts to obtain the 15% interest rate.