17.12.2020 BDB’s Chief Economist: We are ahead of events and work to help people and businesses

The anti-crisis measures in support of people and companies affected by the pandemic are adapted to their needs. This was commented by Iliya Lingorski, Chief Economist of Bulgarian Development Bank, on the air of BNT, in the show ‘Business.BG’. The interest in BDB guarantee programs for individuals and businesses is growing, according to data from the partnering commercial banks.

‘We are not waiting for the events to catch up with us, but we are proactively adapting the government’s programs, for which BDB has been given a special mandate’, Iliya Lingorski added. He also commented the topic of the moratorium on loans in a crisis. Many companies or individuals take the opportunity to defer their loans to gain time. According to statistics, the payments deferred so far amount to nearly BGN 9 billion or about 15% of all loans. The data show that 90 000 companies and households have been approved.

What’s next in the banking system? According to BDB’s Chief Economist, the difference in this crisis is that it is completely external to the financial sector around the world and at the same time is synchronic.

‘When the crisis began in March, the Bulgarian banking system was in an extremely good position and even now the main capital buffer is over 20%’, the Economist said expressly. ‘The regulatory policy is aimed at maintaining the capacity for loans to businesses and ensuring that access to finance is continuous’, he explained. ‘A moratorium on loans was inevitable in this situation’, Iliya Lingorski thinks. ‘First, it allows banks to strongly fine-tune their risks, and second, it is a peace of mind for businesses to plan for a little longer term in order to reduce their risks and plan to get out of this crisis period.’

Our banking and financial system has been taught to operate in a very disciplined way in the conditions of monetary fund for many years. So a quick recovery of European markets means a quick recovery for our country, shows the analysis of BDB’s Chief Economist. The fact that our financial system has enough buffers gives him a reason to believe that there will be a quick recovery.