Minister for Economy, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum says some legislative changes are required to ensure that Fiji National Provident Fund members affected by COVID-19 can do their home loan repayments using FNPF funds, and this could be raised in parliament next week.
Sayed-Khaiyum says they are particularly concerned about those people who have home mortgages as they do not want people to lose their homes due to non-repayment.
He says they have also had a meeting with the Association of Banks and FNPF to come up with a general agreement with respect to a moratorium on a case by case basis.
The Minister for Economy has already stated that they do not want people to keep their FNPF pension and not have a roof over their head.
While speaking during the Fiji Chamber of Commerce and Industry Seminar on Business Outlook – 2021 and Beyond, Challenges of Working with COVID-19, the Association of Banks in Fiji said banks will continue to support customers directly impacted by COVID-19 and have given customers 9 to 12 months to make repayments.
Association Chairman, Rakesh Ram says the arrangement for customers ends on December 31st this year however they will continue to assist customers on a case by case basis.
He says banks have provided repayment holidays, assistance, loan restructures, interest only facilities worth $3.5 billion.
This represents 50% of the total commercial bank lending portfolio of $7 billion.
Ram says repossessing customers’ assets does not help the customer or the banks.
He adds that as of September this year, banks have provisioned $100 million for bad or doubtful debts.
Ram has also highlighted that in the period of COVID-19, lending by commercial banks has grown by $1.7 billion so it is business as usual for them.
He also states that none of the banks have changed their credit policy during COVID-19.
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