Businesses affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and still struggling to recover will receive support from the government through the Economic Stimulus Plan. During the National Assembly’s question hour session today, the finance minister said that Nu 2bn has been allocated to support such businesses. The Economic Stimulus Plan Secretariat with the central bank is currently developing an implementation modality to determine which businesses will receive the support.
Some businesses in the country are still battling the ripple effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. Some businesses have received loan deferment five times since 2020. But many have been unable to get back on track despite loan deferrals and interest waivers.
Consequently, the Member of Parliament of Lamgong Wangchang constituency said a significant number of their loans have become non-performing, rendering them ineligible for new loans.
Considering entrepreneurs as crucial drivers to the country’s economy, he asked if the government would consider implementing a temporary measure to allow these affected businesses to access new loans and bank guarantees for them to recover and stabilise.
In response, the finance minister clarified that businesses affected by COVID-19, whose loans have been deferred until now, are not counted as Non-Performing Loans.
“The loans that have been deferred and businesses that have been affected because of COVID, loans are still not categorised under Non-Performing Loans. It’s as if they are still paying the loan amount.”
The government with the Royal Monetary Authority is carefully looking into considering support for the affected business community. The Nu 2bn will support businesses that have the potential to succeed but are currently unable to do so.
“The government knows the problem and has identified it. The country’s economy is highly dependent on the private sector. Because of this very reason, the government has allocated Nu 2bn from the economic stimulus plan. This allocation will help businesses who can’t pay their loans and have been deferring their loans.”
As of April this year, NPL was recorded at more than Nu 19bn. However, after several measures from the Royal Monetary Authority, the minister clarified that currently, the country’s non-performing loans have decreased to Nu 6.93bn.
Samten Dolkar & Kinzang Lhadon
Edited by Yeshi Gyaltshen
