The law establishes a bank moratorium until December 31, 2020, and this measure extends to cooperatives and finance companies.
During the second round of the discussion of the initiative, modifications were made to articles 2, 4, 5, 7 and; and 3 was removed from the original document.
The third debate will begin this Thursday from 10:00 am
The document in article 4 indicates that once the term of the moratorium established in this law has expired, the creditors in agreement with the debtor must establish the necessary mechanisms so that the client debtor can resume and prorate the payment of their commitments, without this entailing the collection of a late payment surcharge or any other payment as an administrative payment, or damages to your credit reference.
While article 7 establishes that banks, cooperatives and financial entities will not charge or accrue surcharges or any other type of charges for non-payments, late payments or any other reason, especially consumer credit and credit card until on December 31, 2020, counted from the enactment of this law.
The eliminated article 3 established the suspension for ninety (90) days, as of March 1, 2020, in the collection of the rental fees for offices, commercial premises and housing throughout the Republic of Panama.
Independent deputy Juan Diego Vásquez and the deputy, Luis Ernesto Carles expressed their disagreement, after the majority benches voted against the solidarity bond at a rate of $300 per month. The vote was 14 in favor and 36 against.
During the discussion, Vásquez explained that the Legislative Chamber now has to decide the legality and constitutionality of the project or to what extent it will be modified, questioning the "irresponsible conduct of the Executive that decided to veto it as unconstitutional."
"In my opinion, the Assembly should not accept that, as up to now, the amount of the solidarity bonus is at the discretion of the President, since that so far has shown a disconnection of it with the real needs of the citizenry," said Vásquez.
The deputy of the Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD), Leandro Ávila reiterated that the moratorium should be projected beyond December 31, because there is no certainty that this pandemic, plus the world economic crisis that affects us culminates at the end of the year .
He added that within the veto a paragraph or an article should be added that empowers the Executive Branch so that after having fulfilled its commitment to banking at the end of the year, it can renegotiate, if necessary, beyond December 31.
