RO FinMin promises to find a way for banks’ debtors to freeze repayment

Romania’s finance minister Florin Citu assured on Monday, March 23, that he was very close to [finding] a solution for bank customers to delay paying their loan installments, which he promised to make public within 48 hours.

“We are very close to a solution for the clients of the banks, which we have been discussing with Romania’s National Bank (BNR) and the banking system, a solution that we will present within 48 hours,” Citu said, quoted by daily Adevarul.

In the last two weeks, local banks have announced individual solutions to help their customers pay the installments - most of which involve a grace period followed by the restructuring of the loan within the initial repayment period or within a period increased with the length of the grace period.

However, the banks need the central bank’s support for pursuing such debt restructuring without hurting the quality of their loan portfolios.

The central bank so far has said a balance has to be found.

On a more committed note, the opposition Social Democratic Party (PSD) initiated a draft law on Thursday, March 19, which allows the installments to be “frozen” until the end of this year, in the context of the coronavirus epidemic.

The Social Democrats are willing to promote this measure through an emergency bill in the Parliament if the Government doesn’t adopt an emergency ordinance in this sense.

(Photo: Ilona Andrei/ Inquam Photos)