Maldives Parliament on Wednesday passed a report submitted by its Economic Committee for banks to condition real estate clients to reduce rents of the apartments after obtaining leeway from the banks due to COVID-19 pandemic on the repayment of the loans.
The report was prepared to provide parliament’s suggestion on the programmes implemented by the government to mitigate the losses incurred by the businesses and socioeconomic impacts faced by the individuals due to COVID-19 pandemic. The report was passed with 59 members’ votes. None of the members voted against the report.
In their report, the economic committee included their suggestion for the banks that have issued real estate loans to provide leeway for the borrowers to condition their clients to reduce the rent of the apartments and houses.
The suggestion also includes to compensating employees who have lost their jobs, and self-employed people under the economic package developed by the government to mitigate the losses caused due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It is proposed to increase loans for small enterprises by 30% and to increase the allotment for food suppliers.
Economic Committee further suggested:
• To compensate for value-added products and food service providers under the relief package
• Maldives Monetary Authority to ensure availability of foreign currency for the importers of food and medical supplies
• To compensate self-employed through unemployment allowance
• To provide leeway for real estate borrowers on the condition to reduce the rent of the apartments or houses
• To identify resort employees and their families and provide relief package for them
• To increase loans provided to small enterprises by 30% under the relief package
• To provide information about the relief package every 15 days
A parliament meeting
