Deferring loan repayments was a great move, but it needs to stay longer

Deferring loan repayments was a great move, but it needs to stay longer

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Supreme Committee has instructed the Central Bank of Oman to defer loan repayments from private companies and people. We are, of course, most appreciative of them taking this effort, because many of us were forced to delay repaying our loans, or could not repay them altogether, because of the impact the pandemic has had on everyone. That loan deferment programme, however, ends this month. Although – we hope – we are now near the end of this pandemic, the damage it has caused over the last one and a half years cannot be undone in just two or three months. We need far longer time to recover. I feel that the support the Supreme Committee has given to us needs to stay for at least another 12 months or even longer, some people may say, because I do not think it is stretching a fact too far to say that some companies might even take years to recover the losses. According to experts, there are companies that do not need the deferment programme because the pandemic did not affect their business. The private sector needs more time to become stable again. I,