Social measures during the COVID-19 pandemic

The Government in Bucharest has passed an emergency decree postponing the payment of bank installments

Roxana Vasile, 27.03.2020, 14:00

Beyond the round-the-clock fight to save the lives of the
gravely sick, another major concern in these difficult times at global level is
to find solutions to keep the economy moving forward and support the population
facing financial difficulties. The Liberal Government in Bucharest on Thursday passed
an Emergency Decree postponing the payment of bank installments until December
31, in those cases where the income of natural or legal persons have been
affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. A request in this sense can be submitted to
the bank before the state of emergency is lifted, namely within three weeks at
the latest. One condition is to have no outstanding debt at the time of the request.
Finance Minister Florin Citu explains:

The suspension of payments is granted for those debtors whose
income has been directly or indirectly affected by the problems generated by
the COVID-19 pandemic. We are still to discuss regulations and standards in
this respect, because there is a wide array of natural persons that can make
this request. Today, in Romania, we are all being affected by this pandemic, to
a greater or lesser extent.

The postponement is not entirely good news however, as the Government
says an interest rate will be added to the loan for any suspended installments,
whose payment will be spaced out for the entire duration of the loan. Economic expert
Constantin Rudnitschi commented on the Government’s decision:

I don’t know if the Government wanted this to happen, but these
are the facts: they have given people more hope than the decree actually
provides, in the sense that, prior to this Government session, there was much
talk of the fact that, irrespective of natural or legal persons, all people
will be able to benefit from the provisions of this decree, and will be able to
postpone their installments. Well, this decree doesn’t contain provisions
addressing everyone, but only those who have been directly or indirectly
affected by this coronavirus crisis, which is a very vague criterion that has
not yet been clarified. It is very vague, because we don’t know what the
Government means by ‘indirectly’.

Despite difficulties generated by the coronavirus pandemic,
Romanian economy must move forward. In this respect, Prime Minister Ludovic
Orban has called on Transport Minister Lucian Bode to kick off new investment
programs. Alternatively, deadlines for ongoing investments will remain in
place. Meanwhile, investments will continue in the field of energy, Economy
Minister Virgil Popescu has said. In turn, Agriculture Minister Adrian Oros was
assigned the task of identifying any opportunities in the field and coming up
with plans to capitalize on them.

(Translated by V. Palcu)