Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) - In accordance with the Decree of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan “On additional measures to support the population, sectors of the economy and business entities during the coronavirus pandemic” from 3 April 2020.

The Central Bank has taken a number of measures to create conditions and simplify procedures for commercial banks to grant deferred payments on loans to businesses and individuals faced with financial difficulties until 1 October 2020, as well as not to apply penalties and measures to collect collateral for overdue loans of borrowers, whose activities were adversely affected by the introduced quarantine mode. The measures being implemented have been communicated to commercial banks and are related to the relaxation of supervisory requirements.

At the same time, individual banks have not yet taken measures to provide support to business entities and individual borrowers who faced financial difficulties during the period of counteracting the spread of coronavirus infection. And the banks that made such decisions do not inform the local branches about the decisions taken, nor do they carry out wide-format explanatory work among the population. At the same time, communication channels (websites, helplines, telegram bots) with customers function intermittently.

In this connection, the Central Bank urges the heads of commercial banks to hold constant briefings on central television channels, including Coronavirus info, as well as carry out regular work to clarify the procedure for interacting with clients (including frequently asked questions) during the quarantine period through the media and bloggers with the disclosure of information about communication channels with the bank (websites, helplines, telegram bots).

Along with this, we appeal to borrowers of credit organizations.

The Central Bank notes that during the period of deferment of payments on the loan, the calculation of interest for using the loan will continue and, at the end of the deferral period, borrowers will have to pay these accrued interests.

In order to prevent borrowers from accumulating debt in future periods, the Central Bank recommends that borrowers who have the financial ability to pay loan debt in current periods continue to repay loans in accordance with the terms stipulated by the loan agreements.