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Good Friday is a public holiday in Sri Lanka, but some banks stay open
by Melani Manel Perera
Catholic bank employees turn to the archbishop of Colombo asking him to get the authorities to intervene. Several banks respect the statutory holiday, but some say they will not close even for Sinhalese and Tamil New Year.
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Colombo (AsiaNews) – Good Friday is a public holiday in Sri Lanka, but some bank employees must go to work. For this reason some Catholics working in financial institutions that are open on this feast day have contacted Mgr Oswald Gomis, archbishop Colombo, to see whether he can get their employers to change their policy.
The archbishop did get in touch with government authorities to lean on the banks.
Not only are some banks staying open on Good Friday, last year some industrial plants and companies did not respect public holiday regulations.
Several banks AsiaNews contracted said that they were close on Good Friday.
Others like the Hatton National said instead that they would stay open, explaining that they do not even close on Tamil and Sinhalese New Year, which generally falls on 13 and 14 April.