Loan Annulment Program Ongoing Successfully
Nikoloz Chkhetiani, Chairman of the Board of the Cartu Foundation, has told media that the program of loan annulling in banks is ongoing successfully.
Chkhetiani says the contracts have been signed with six commercial banks on the purchase of unpaid loans of 600,000 black-listed Georgians, adding the number of beneficiaries will increase by 200 thousand.
The loans of 407 thousand creditors have been annulled based on the information uploaded on the web-page Vali.ge. The total volume of loans amounts to 679 thousand GEL.
People can check their information by indicating their ID number, birth date and filling in the special security field “I am not a robot.” If a creditor is in the base, it means that his/her loan will be annulled by December 31.
The loans have already been taken from Bank of Georgia, TBC Bank, Liberty Bank, Silk Road Bank, Khalik Bank and Isbank Georgia. According to the Finance Ministry, the information provided by other finance organizations is being processed.
A recent government initiative, which envisages writing-off the loans of 600,000 black-listed Georgians, means that the banks will select those customers who have been unable to cover their debts, which do not exceed GEL 2000.
Georgian financial institutions already signed the memorandum with Cartu Foundation, a fund owned by ruling Georgian Dream founder and chair, billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili, which is ready to cover the total amount of such debts, reaching 1.6 billion GEL.
Of the total 600,000 people, 150,000 are socially vulnerable.
In addition, 12 financial organizations added they would write-off debts of the socially vulnerable people without asking for compensation from Cartu.
The process of annulling people’s debts will be finished by December 31.
Georgian Prime Minister Mamuka Bakhtadze said the database will be updated on a regular basis daily.
He answered questions of internet users on Facebook Live about the program of loan annulment. The PM said that Georgia had two enemies – Russian occupation and poverty.
“This one-time solidarity act will give the possibility to citizens to return to a healthy economic and social life,” he claimed.
He explained that the purpose of the government was to facilitate the “burden of those who had become victim of unfair rules.”
By Thea Morrison
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