The government approved the methodological rules for the new postponement of the payment of installments
The request for suspension of payment obligations may be made by the debtor no later than March 15, 2021, and the creditor must notify the debtor of the decision within a maximum of 15 calendar days, by March 31, 2021. Amendment of the contractual clauses, as an effect of approving the debtor’s request, it is done without concluding additional documents to the credit agreement, but by notifying the debtor within 30 calendar days from receiving the complete request.
The normative act adopted on January 27 stipulates that persons can benefit from the suspension of the payment of the obligations resulting from the accessed credits for a maximum period of nine months, during this period being included both the previously implemented legislative moratorium and the non-legislative moratoriums.
The necessary conditions to be able to request the suspension of the payment of the obligations are: the credits were granted until March 30, 2020 inclusive, the credit did not expire until the date of the request made by the debtor, the early maturity of the credits was not declared until December 31, 2020 inclusive and the debtor does not register arrears at the date of requesting the suspension of the payment obligation.
The debtor whose income has been directly or indirectly affected by the serious situation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic may benefit from the facility to suspend the obligation to pay the installments, interest and commissions related to the loan. The debtor, except for natural persons, must declare on his own responsibility the decrease of the average monthly income/ receipts by at least 25% in the last three months prior to the request for suspension of payment obligations by reference to the similar period of 2019/2020 and the fact that he is unable to honor the payment obligations related to the credit.
Trends in the evolution of economic activity
The National Institute of Statistics published on January 28 the press release regarding the trends in the evolution of economic activity during January – March 2021, thus showing a relative stability of activity in the manufacturing industry, relative stability of the number of employees in the manufacturing industry and services and a moderate increase in prices in the manufacturing industry, construction and retail trade.
In the retail sector, managers estimated for the next three months a trend of moderate decline in economic activity (short term balance -7%). The volume of orders addressed to suppliers of goods by commercial units will register relative stability (short term balance + 3%). Employers forecast for the next three months a moderate increase in the number of employees (short term balance + 11%). The managers of the companies estimate a moderate increase of the retail prices (short term balance + 13%).
According to estimates from January 2021, the demand for services (turnover) will decline moderately in the next three months (short term balance -15%). In the services sector, the relative stability of the number of employees is estimated (short term balance -3%). According to the managers, the selling or invoicing prices of the services will have a tendency of relative stability (short term balance + 3%).
Monetary indicators – December 2020
According to the NBR press release of January 27, 2021, at end-December 2020, broad money amounted to RON 487,450.5 million, up 2.1 percent (1.8 percent in real terms) month on month and 15.3 percent (13.0 percent in real terms) year on year.
At end-December 2020, loans to non-government sector granted by credit institutions increased 0.5 percent (0.1 percent in real terms) from November 2020 to RON 282,370.0 million. RON-denominated loans, representing 69.5 percent of total volume of loans to non-government sector, moved up 0.8 percent, whilst foreign currency-denominated loans, representing 30.5 percent of total loans to non-government sector, decreased 0.2 percent when expressed in RON (down 0.1 percent when expressed in EUR).
In year-on-year comparison, loans to non-government sector advanced 5.5 percent (3.4 percent in real terms), on the back of the 8.5 percent increase in RON-denominated loans (6.3 percent in real terms) and the 0.6 percent decrease in foreign currency-denominated loans expressed in RON (down 2.5 percent when expressed in EUR).
Credit to general government increased by 2.6 percent in December 2020 from the previous month to RON 145,588.9 million and moved up 25.3 percent (22.7 percent in real terms) year on year. Deposits of non-government resident customers advanced by 2.6 percent month on month to RON 420,793.9 million and the annual growth rate was 14.4 percent (12.1 percent in real terms).
RON-denominated deposits of residents, representing 65.2 percent of deposits of non-government customers, moved up 3.8 percent to RON 274,379.0 million month on month and 13.5 percent (11.2 percent in real terms) year on year.