Traders urge quick relief
PCCI urged the central bank to incentivize lenders to adopt the approach of deferring or restructuring loans principal payments
The Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industr (PCCI) urged banks and other financing institutions to provide temporary relief to borrowers heavily impacted by the pandemic via voluntary and negotiated loan term extension or restructuring.
In a statement, the country’s largest umbrella group of business organizations, urged the central bank to incentivize lenders to adopt the approach of deferring or restructuring loans principal payments for borrowers affected by the effects of the community quarantine “upon mutually acceptable and reasonable terms and conditions.”
“The key to obtaining relief for our members is for the (Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas) to encourage and help banks to be able to support the businesses and industries hardest hit by the pandemic,” PCCI president Benedicto Yujuico said.
Relief measures sought
Instead of making loan deferments or restructuring prescriptive and mandatory, PCCI said the BSP should consider granting regulatory relief measures including relaxed rules on loan loss provisioning and staggered booking of loan loss provisions, as proposed in House Bill No. 6815, the Accelerated Recovery and Investments Stimulus for the Economy (ARISE) bill.
“We are calling on the banks to review their guidelines with a request to align with the ARISE to allow longer payment extensions so that they can respond appropriately to the big negative impact of the pandemic on many borrowers,” Yujuico said.
The PCCI again voiced its support to ARISE’s provision extending loan terms for one to two years and called on the banking sector to provide businesses with more breathing room to help aid the country’s trade and industry amid the pandemic. This comes as many of PCCI’s member companies did not generate enough revenues to pay back debts to banks during the lockdown, it said.