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 EUR 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 EUR 1.34 bln increasing from EUR 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 EUR 11.75 bln on June 19, from EUR 11.44 bln on June 5, of which EUR 7.07 bln were related to business loans and the remaining EUR 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, EUR 929.5 mln related to business loans and EUR 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 hospitality and catering sector with a gross value of EUR 1.75 bln concerning 728 borrowers.

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