The continuation of the repayment moratorium is being investigated

According to András Tállai, it is to be welcomed that the Hungarian Bank Association recently indicated that it supports the extension of the moratorium so that the needy, families and businesses that have suffered significant damage from the coronavirus epidemic can receive additional, targeted help.

In Friday's edition of Világgazdaság, the state secretary explained: it is now necessary to examine how, in addition to the targeted continuation of the payment facilitation procedure, it can be ensured that financial institutions can help the economy restart after the coronavirus crisis by continuously maintaining lending.

He emphasized: the goal is to continue to provide the protective umbrella to those customers whose economic situation makes it necessary, but at the same time, it is important from the point of view of the future of the economy that those customers who are able to return to regular repayments.

He added that the government will not release the hands of those who return to repayment, as the law stipulates that the banks cannot capitalize the deferred interest payment, and as a result of the moratorium, the repayment installment cannot increase compared to the previous one, instead the term will be extended.

András Tállai said that according to MNB data, instead of 1.6 million residential loans last April, 1.3 million contracts were under moratorium at the end of February this year.

Compared to last May, the number of businesses remaining in moratorium decreased by 21 percentage points to 35,000, so 50 percent of residential loans and 35 percent of corporate loans are under moratorium. As a result of the moratorium, 1,700-1,800 billion forints, or 3.6-3.8 percent of last year's GDP, could remain in the real economy until the end of 2020.

MTI

Illustrator: MTVA/ Imre Faludi