COVID19: Loan payment holiday swells to €11.75 bln

Loan payments suspended by banks to help 50,500 borrowers during the COVID-19 pandemic reached a gross value of €11.75 bln last month with the hospitality sector hardest hit, according to Cyprus Central Bank data.

Suspended credit facilities at the request of borrowers on June 19 amounted to €1.34 bln increasing from €1.31 bln on June 5.

Under the emergency measures announced by Government to control the spread of COVID-19 in Cyprus, borrowers could apply for suspension of instalments and interest on their credit facilities.

Gross carrying amount of suspended loans increased 2.7% to € 11.75 bln on June 19, from €11.44 bln on June 5, of which € 7.07 bln were related to business loans and the remaining € 4.67 billion concerned household loans.

According to the data concerning loans with less than 30 days of arrears in both licensed credit institutions and credit acquisition companies, €929.5 mln related to business loans and €408.2 mln were suspended household loans.

In addition, a total of 50,586 borrowers applied for a loan suspension, of which 44,428 were households and 6,158 businesses.

The largest amount of corporate loans for which a suspension of instalments was requested was in the hospitality and catering sector with a gross value of €1.75 bln concerning 728 borrowers.

Suspended loans requested for real estate businesses reached €1.31 bln (692 borrowers), for construction €1.19 bln (628 borrowers) and wholesale and retail trade €1.15 bln (1,770 borrowers).