YEREVAN, October 28. /ARKA/. Armenian commercial banks will award the so-called 'credit holidays' to those borrowers who are now fighting in Nagorno-Karabakh against the Azerbaijani aggression, Deputy Finance Minister Arman Poghosyan said at a press conference on Wednesday, adding that their decisions is voluntary.

He said there is no law that would oblige banks to forgive its borrowers credit obligations.

'But from the first days of the martial law, banks, credit and leasing organizations made various statements about their readiness to be as flexible as possible and to provide certain assistance to career army officers and volunteers who went to fight against Azerbaijani aggression - both extending their loans' repayment period and granting deferrals,” Poghosyan said.

Armenian banks had already awarded 'credit holidays' to individuals and companies affected by the coronavirus crisis. As a result, as of June 1, more than 550 thousand individuals and 17.4 thousand legal entities took advantage of the credit holidays.

Individuals with financial difficulties were given the opportunity to postpone mortgage payments for 6 months while banks and credit organizations revised loan obligations of 550 thousand individuals for a total amount of 682 billion drams and provided credit holidays in the amount of 45 billion drams.

As for legal entities, during this period, banks and credit organizations revised loan obligations of 17.4 thousand legal entities for a total amount of 640 billion drams and provided credit holidays worth 57 billion drams. -0-

In addition, Armenian banks were involved in the government's anti-crisis programs designed to neutralize the consequences of the coronavirus, by providing loans to businesses on preferential terms. -0-