June 27 at the briefing in the press center of the Government, First Deputy Prime Minister – Minister of Finance Alikhan Smailov reported on the planned measures to implement the Presidential Decree "On Measures to Reduce the Debt Burden of Citizens of Kazakhstan."

The president of Kazakhstan receives numerous appeals from citizens to help with the payment of consumer unsecured loans.

“There was a situation when the most socially vulnerable citizens, and these are large families, families with disabled children, families who lost their sole breadwinner, recipients of targeted social assistance, orphans for various reasons, fell into a difficult situation and could not serve credit commitments undertaken,” said Smailov.

This problem affects the vital interests of about 500 thousand people. Therefore, the president made a decision to provide unprecedented social support, yesterday he signed a corresponding Decree. The purpose of the Decree is to help Kazakhstanis who find themselves in a difficult life situation, to provide an opportunity to improve the financial situation of their families.

The Decree instructs the Government and the National Bank to take the following measures as a one-time action. As a direct targeted financial assistance for each borrower from the above-mentioned category of citizens, the state will repay the main debt and accrued remuneration in the total amount of up to 300 thousand tenge in second-tier banks and microfinance organizations. Moreover, their total debt should not exceed 3 million tenge as of June 1, 2019.

For all citizens who have unsecured consumer loans in banks and microfinance organizations, accrued fines and penalties will be written off as of July 1, 2019. This write-off will be carried out, first of all, at the expense of second-tier banks and microfinance organizations.

A ban is also imposed on the accrual of penalties, commissions and other payments related to the issuance and servicing of loans for all unsecured consumer loans of individuals with overdue over 90 days.

“The president’s position – the situation with consumer loans should not be repeated,” Smailov said.

The National Bank will take the necessary regulatory measures and strengthen the responsibility of financial organizations for taking excessive risks. A ban will be introduced on granting loans to citizens with incomes below the subsistence minimum in order to avoid further deterioration of their financial situation. The National Bank will take additional regulatory measures when issuing unsecured consumer loans. Among them, the overall ratio of the debt burden on the borrower, additional requirements for the equity of banks and others.