COLOMBO, Aug. 12 -- Women-owned and women-led micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) received 36,087 business loans worth approximately Rs145.5 billion during the first year of Sri Lanka's Women Entrepreneurs Finance Code (WE Finance Code), according to the initiative's inaugural annual report.

The WE Finance Code Annual Report 2025/2026, published by the Department of Development Finance of the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development, records the first-year progress of the initiative, which Sri Lanka adopted nationally in March 2025 with technical assistance from the Asian Development Bank.

Sri Lanka became the first country in South Asia to adopt the global WE Finance Code, aimed at improving access to financ...