The Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs, Joaquim Amaral and the Minister of Finance, Fernando Hanjam, signed an agreement with the Governor of the Central Bank of Timor-Leste (BCTL), Abraão de Vasconcelos, on July 20th, 2020, for the operational management of the moratorium on compliance with obligations arising from credit concession contracts under the economic policy of response to COVID-19’ implementation.

With this measure, citizens or companies that have contracted credits with banking institutions or other institutions that accept deposits (Other Deposit Taking Institutions, ODTI) in Timor-Leste, may submit until the last day of July, a request for the rescheduling of credits with their credit institutions.

This program is managed by BCTL, which will make payments to credit institutions and provide the necessary information’s about application processes.

This measure, integrating the economic stimulus and response package to respond for the expected negative effects of COVID-19 on the national economy, aims to respond to the constraints and difficulties resulting from the decrease in revenues and income, of citizens and companies, inherent to the slowdown in economy, due to the outbreak of COVID-19, and the risk of a spiral of default, which could have negative effects on the financial system and consequently, on the real economy. Thus, a moratorium on compliance of the capital and interest obligations arising from credit agreements is established, postponing its maturity by three months.

As of today, costumers of credit institutions that want to apply for this measure, can do so through the online platform, developed by BCTL, for this purpose.