Travel sector moratorium extension on case by case basis

The Central Bank will not force the banking system to extend the travel sector moratorium for a specific period but have given guidelines to allow companies to liaise with banks and come to a settlement. This would be on a case by case basis said the Governor Central Bank Dr. Nandalal Weerasinghe.

He said that the travel sector has been offered these moratorium on several occasions and hence they have got ‘exceptional’ treatment over some of the other sectors like SME who would take a longer time to bounce back with the current economic situation. “We have held a series of discussions with the ministry, tourism authorized stakeholders and spoken about this and we feel

that the travel sector would be able to recover.”

Asked by ‘Daily News Business’ with regard to the Cabinet decision taken three weeks ago in this regard offering a six month moratorium extension he said that the CBSL was not consulted before this decision was taken. The Governor said that one also has to look at the interests of the banking sector as well when moratoria are considered. He however said that the CBSL has given new guidelines with regard to moratoria and the travel sector will have benefits when settling their dues.

“These new measures also include ‘soft peddling’ of nonperforming loans when it comes to reporting to CRIB and several other such lenient measures,” said Deputy Governor M. J. Y. P Fernando. She also said that the non-banking units too would be given similar guidelines allowing the travel sector to get some ‘breathing space’ when it comes to the leasing segment.