REUTERS
The Ukrainian Finance Ministry hopes that the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine's parliament, will support a draft law on the restructuring of hard currency loans taken by citizens of Ukraine to purchase single residential property (mortgage loans), which was jointly elaborated by the Finance Ministry, the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) and the Ukrainian Banks Association, according to a posting on the ministry's website.
The draft law is expected to grant a restructuring opportunity to approximately 37,000 families, and the expected restructuring volume is more than UAH 20 billion, according to the statement.
The Finance Ministry notes that the draft law does not pose any risks to the banking system of Ukraine, stressing that it has been agreed with 19 biggest banks of Ukraine which together own 75% of assets in the banking system of the country.
According to the ministry, one of the problems currently hindering the economic recovery of Ukraine has to do with the lack of loans for business which is due to a high volume of bad loans disabling banks from providing new ones. Another aspect of this issue is a high debt burden on Ukrainian households resulting predominantly from mortgage loans taken before the crisis of 2008.
"Our opinion is that restructuring of the loans taken in hard currency can only be possible for citizens who took them to purchase their own residential property and are at risk to be left without their only property due to their inability to repay the loans. This is the only approach which can be considered fair to the other citizens of our country who did not take loans and lived at their own cost," Finance Minister Natalie Jaresko said.
As UNIAN reported earlier, the Cabinet of Ministers approved a package of bills to support citizens and businesses that have foreign currency loans. These bills are that on financial restructuring and that on the restructuring of liabilities of Ukrainian citizens on foreign currency loans obtained to acquire a single housing unit (mortgage).
According to the Finance Ministry, the mentioned bills will allow Ukrainians to restructure foreign currency mortgage debts to the tune of UAH 20 billion under new conditions, while the total amount of debt restructuring for businesses subject to the restructuring plan is about UAH 200 billion, experts estimate.