Loan repayment suspended
for six months by Parliament

Beneficiaries: Firms affected

by virus, minimum wage earners

Parliament has passed a law suspending for six months the repayment of the principals and interests of loans owed by companies and people affected by the coronavirus pandemic.

Lenders, which include banks and comptoirs, are not allowed to impose penalties for late payments.

Excerpts from the law:

All installments of debt owed by people and companies belonging to business sectors affected by the spread of the coronavirus are to be suspended for six months starting from April. This applies to credit facilities obtained from banks and credit companies (comptoirs). It includes principal and interest payments.

All legal, judicial, and executive procedures related to the provisions of this law are also suspended. There will be no late payment penalties, commissions or late-payment interest imposed on these loans.

The beneficiaries of this law include borrowers whose monthly income does not exceed the minimum wage or those whose income has been cut in half or less. Those who have been suspended from work partly or definitively, and consequently their income has been reduced in half or less will also benefit. The beneficiaries also include companies operating in the tourism sector, restaurants, cafes, transportation companies, and all productive sectors directly affected by the crisis, especially small and medium enterprises.