Self-employed persons and companies will probably be given a financial help in the form of suspension of the repayment of loans and mortgages for 3 or 6 months according to their preference. Interest and principal payments will be suspended as well.

The required law was passed on Wednesday, April 1^st, and presents a comprise between the government, entrepreneurs and bank representatives. Self-employed persons and companies have to apply for the repayment suspension and the pandemic has to be declared as the cause. Banks are not supposed to inspect the reason and no fees for suspension will be charged. According to Finance minister Alena Schillerová, the suspension of the loan repayment will not cause a negative entry in the bank register for the client.

The measure applies to repayments of consumer and business loans including mortgages that have been negotiated and drawn before March 26^th. In case of mortgages it is possible to suspend repayment even for contracts concluded before March 26^th that were drawn after that date.

On the other hand, the measure does not apply to credit cards, overdraft loans, revolving loans, operating leases or loans related to capital market transactions. In addition, repayments cannot be suspended for loans if the debtor has been late in repayment of the loan, to the date March 26^th, for more than 30 days.