Macedonian banks who agree to postpone the payment of loan rates for up six months for their debtors will continue to calculate interest on the debt. This was confirmed today by Finance Minister Nina Angelovska, and it concerned citizens and companies who fear they will face a pile of debts once the coronavirus epidemic ends.

Angelovska said that Macedonia is not introducing a mandatory postponement of debt payment like many other countries because “we managed to achieve through dialogue with the banks what other countries achieved through a moratorium”.

A constructive dialogue is much better than imposing conditions on the banks or a dictatorship. We see that banks are offering postponement of three and up to six months on their own. The economic stability of the country will depend on the stability of the banking sector, who will have to support the economy after the crisis, Angelovska said.

Former Finance Minister Kiril Minoski warns that the citizens will have to be made fully aware of the conditions that are being offered.

They will need to be prepared to pay back their loans and the accumulated interests, Minoski said. He asks that banks are reminded to put their interests on the back burner, and says that the issues of dividend payments and bonuses for bank management will be raised.

“After the crisis is over, the way the companies acted will be scrutinized and will affect their perception in the public. Banks are privately owned and they can act independently, but we can call on them to act with a sense of social responsibility”, Minoski added.