"This will get done in the future."

Cabraal was responding to a question from Vahini Vidyananthan a student at Vambadi Girls High School in Jaffna.

Sri Lanka has a network of state-run regional development banks, which lend to small businesses in several provinces.

The Ruhunu, Rajarata, Sabaragamuwa, Kandurata, Uva and Wayamba regional development banks run as autonomous banks with their own boards of directors.

Sri Lanka's National Development Bank, originally set up as a 'development bank' to give medium term credit to start ups and now has a commercial banking licence, opened branch in Jaffna last year.

This week Cabraal also opened a branch of DFCC Bank in Jaffna, also a 'development bank' at one time, which now has a commercial banking license.

Sanasa, a bank representing the co-operative movement, also opened a branch in the peninsular this week.

Privately owned banks are rushing the under banked Jaffna peninsula. During a 30-year war in the areas only state-run only Bank of Ceylon, National Savings Bank and Peoples Bank had a strong presence in the area.

Since the end of the war in May 2009 the Central Bank has approved new bank 45 branches to be setup in the Northern peninsula. Already 11 banks have commenced operations, a central bank official said.

Officials say non-performing loans in Jaffna has traditionally been very low. The north is a lucrative market for banks, Cabraal said.

"We give loans of 50,000 rupees which can be increased to 250,000 rupees guaranteed by a group of four people," A. Nagenthiran, Jaffna branch manager of Sanasa Development Bank said.

"Due to this our NPL's our very low it's actually below 2.0 percent at the moment."

Jaffna was one of the most developed districts in Sri Lanka at one time but most of Jaffna's industries were destroyed by the war," Yogeswari Patkunarajah, Jaffna Mayor said.

But with the end of a war and a road link opened with the rest of the country, people are looking for credit to start new businesses.