Some 10% of the 1.5 million retail bank debtors have applied for the moratorium on the debt repayment, which allows them to defer installment payments, Digi24.ro reported.

Similarly, 10% of the 100,000 corporate bank debtors have used the same facility provided under an emergency ordinance passed by the Government. Raiffeisen Bank has reported getting 25,000 such requests, followed by ING Bank (17,000) and BCR Erste Bank Group (15,000).

"Customers are making this decision with great responsibility," said Florin Dănescu, chief executive of the Romanian Association of Banks (ARB).

He added that there are clients who asked for their loan installments to be deferred for a period shorter than the maximum period of nine months stipulated in the emergency ordinance.

There were also cases when people saw the new payment schedule and decided that they didn't want to use the option, according to the ARB official.

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editor@roania-insider.com