The problem of Swiss bank loans should be solved with banks, and not with the money of citizens: Economists support the help, but only if it's not from the budget
We didn't ask for the state to help us from the budget, answers Jelena Pavlovic from the CHF Association
Svetlana R. (43) took housing loan in euros in 2007, when many people took loans in Swiss francs. As she said, it was known that the franc is not stable, and all of the important economic institutions, including the National Bank of Serbia and the European Central bank, warned that the Swiss franc could rise in the future and it could cause great problems.
Svetlana didn't want to take any chances and decided to take the more expensive but in the long run a safer option. The neighbor laughed but he is now begging the state for help.
- Everyone has to bear responsibility for their decisions. I do not want to repay other people's debts - Svetlana said in a letter she sent to our newsroom, revolted by the state's announcement that they will help people from the budget of the state.
A representative of the Association of CHF Serbia Jelena Pavlovic answers for Telegraf.rs that they never asked the state to help out of the budget and they don't ask for it today.
- What we are asking if for the Supreme Court of Cassation to bring the legal opinion on these loans. We expect it to be the same as other European states because both circumstances and the substantive law are the same. That means that the conversion of those loans at the franc exchange rate is inadmissible and that such calculation should be put out of effect because those are dinar loans. In that case, the banks would receive the money they have given, increased by interest, but without extra profit - answers Pavlovic.
THEY KNEW WHAT THEY WERE DOING, BUT THEY COUNTED ON LUCK
The economists agree that the banks should solve the problems. There is no responsibility of the state and it shouldn't be fair towards those who were rational, like our interlocutor Svetlana, for the state to help those citizens from the state budget.
- Loans in Swiss francs were significantly more favorable than loans in euros. The interest rates were three percent at Swiss level, five percent on the Euro level. Former governer Jelasic warned people not to take this as a leading factor and that the Swiss franc exchange rate is one of the most unstable ones. People ignored that - the famous economist Ljubodrag Savic remembers for Telegraf.rs, and when he spoke about the risks of loans in Swiss francs people told him that he doesn't understand banking.
He agrees that people who have Swiss bank loans, who have big problems, must be helped. But that shouldn't be done at the expense of all citizens, with the budget.
BANKS SHOULD ACCEPT THE SMALLER PROFIT, THEY ALREADY GOT A LOT
- The solution could be searched only between clients and banks which approved those loans. The solution shouldn't be according to the system that clients can lose everything, and the banks will get it all, nor the other way around. There must be a legal solution where the payments of those people will be reduced. Perhaps, the best solution is to apply the credit terms that apply to the euro. The banks should accept to make less than they have been making so far, and they already received a lot of money - explains Savic.
On the other hand, economist Mladen Kovacic considers that we should be compassionate, we shouldn't be led by "pure economic logic".
- The citizens got loans in Swiss francs because the interest was significantly lower and it was their decision, but the situation is so terrible that we cannot be led by pure economic logic. It is like the weather has devastated people, just like the floods in Obrenovac 2014, and we have to be compassionate in those situations - thinks Kovacevic.
President Vucic already announced the help of the state. As he said, the goal is for the banks to pay 60 or 70 percent, and the state will pay the rest.
(Telegraf.co.uk / M. Leskovac / m.leskovac@telegraf.rs)