March 25 (SeeNews) - Romania's government plans to give borrowers affected by the coronavirus crisis an opportunity to delay up to six months their monthly repayments of bank loans, finance minister Florin Citu said.
"The measure will be announced by way of an emergency decree on Thursday and will allow a postponement of payments for a longer period than the state of emergency, as the effects of the economic crisis will be with us longer," Citu told local TV station Digi 24 by phone on Tuesday evening.
According to Citu, the measure will apply to both individual and corporate borrowers affected by the coronavirus crisis.
Also on Tuesday evening, the central bank said in a press release that banks would not be required to set aside provisions for the restructured loans. Until now, if a loan is not serviced for three months, it becomes non-performing.
Romania has so far confirmed 794 cases of the coronavirus infection and 13 deaths, according to latest data from the health ministry.