ZAGREB, April 15, 2020 – President Zoran Milanović on Wednesday called on banks to offer, under clearly defined criteria, an interest-free loan repayment moratorium of 12 months to workers, the self-employed, and small and micro businesses affected by the crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
“Since in normal circumstances those categories of debtors meet their obligations towards banks in the most regular manner and since the Croatian National Bank has relaxed supervision of the banking sector, this move would show that banks are actively participating in the process of maintaining economic activity,” Milanović said in a Facebook post.
He notes that what banks are currently offering is an ordinary moratorium appropriate to a normal situation, which is not helping debtors.
“The moratorium currently on offer, which is not interest-free, is no relief for debtors, it will eventually increase their total loan liabilities and on top of everything, debtors have to pay for contract authentication,” he says.
In future banks will be able, owing to measures taken to encourage economic activity and loan growth, to offset possible losses to be incurred due to participation in the process aimed at preserving economic activity, he says.
“In that spirit, I call on banks to adjust their moratorium offers to the current situation,” Milanović says in his post.
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