Khalil Announces Solution to Housing Loans Crisis
Caretaker Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil on Monday promised a solution to the ongoing housing loans crisis.
During a meeting with Rony Lahoud, the director general of the Public Corporation for Housing, Khalil said the ministry has agreed to pay the controversial mortgage interest increase for new loans.
“Efforts are underway to prepare the legal mechanisms related to this approval as soon as possible,” Khalil added.
Khalil and Lahoud also discussed the “proposed formulas” for the mechanism in order to “resolve the housing loans crisis,” the National News Agency said.
The central bank has recently issued a memo revising loan interests backed by it as the housing bank sharply toughened its lending terms.
According to reports, the housing bank raised the interest rate from 3% to 3.75% as it lowered the payment period from 30 to 20 years. The interest rate for Lebanese expats was meanwhile raised from 2% to 2.75% with an unchanged 30-year payment period.
Under the new reported terms, the bank would also withhold loans from anyone who inherits a house outside Beirut and anyone who benefited from a housing bank loan in the past.
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