Housing loans affected by COVID-19 granted relief

• 30 March 2020
• Local News
• 3229 Views

Home improvement loans and housing loans are among the loans that are being granted relief through loan restructures from banks and microfinance institutions (MFIs). The directive aims to ease the burden of loan borrowers whose incomes are reduced and have difficulty paying back due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In a directive statement issued on 27 March, the National Bank of Cambodia requires banks and MFIs to pay attention to customers whose financial flows are affected and allow them to restructure loan applications.

Prioritized sectors that are granted relief include tourism (hotels, guesthouses, and restaurants), garments (including employers), construction (for house improvement and business facility building loan and housing loans), transportation (taxi and three-wheel drivers) and logistics.

The directive states that loan restructuring is temporarily provided to customers during this pandemic period, and the expiration date is on 31 December 2020.

“The restructuring loan refers to loans of which contract conditions are changed to temporarily provide favourable conditions for customers who directly face financial issues,” read the directive.

Those favourable conditions include reducing the principal amount or the amount to be paid, reducing interest rates of loan to be lower than interest rates mentioned in the contracts. Suspending loan payments or interest rate payments are also among the relief measures, according to the provisions of the directive.

• Economy and Finance
• Policy and Strategy