The Prime Minister addressing the media at Temple Trees yesterday said the Monetary Board will issue the relevant guidelines and directives in this regard by next week. Accordingly it has been proposed to reduce lending rates by about 200 basis points.“In view of the various submissions made by the private sector, especially by the SME sector that lending rates are very high and access to credit is difficult since banks are reluctant to provide temporary overdraft (TODs), the members of the Monetary Board, CEOs of the banks and the representatives of the Institute of Chartered Accountants were invited to a meeting to propose means of addressing these issues,” the Prime Minister said.