Loan payments suspended by banks to help 50,500 borrowers during the COVID-19 pandemic reached a gross value of €11.75 billion 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 billion increasing from €1.31 billion 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 billion on June 19, from €11.44 billion on June 5, of which € 7.07 billion 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 million related to business loans and €408.2 million 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 billion concerning 728 borrowers.
Suspended loans requested for real estate businesses reached €1.31 billion (692 borrowers), for construction €1.19 billion (628 borrowers) and wholesale and retail trade €1.15 billion (1,770 borrowers).
Source: Financial Mirror
