CGD “should lower” interest rates on housing loans and “pull down the market”, challenges BE

The Left Bloc on Sunday proposed an immediate cut in interest rates on housing loans from the Caixa Geral de Depósitos (CGD), by up to three percentage points, with an estimated saving of up to 200 euros per month for families.

“This is a simple, reasonable, workable proposal, and it is capable of doing something that no one else in this country has proposed: to have a direct transfer between the astronomical profits of the banks and the reduction in the provision of housing credit,” he said. Today's national coordinator of BE, when presenting the proposal at the party's headquarters in Lisbon.

According to Mariana Mortagua, the Caixa Geral de Depósitos “can immediately reduce installments and the interest rate applied to mortgage loans for the purchase of private and permanent housing, by up to three percentage points from the currently applicable rates.”

“You can do this and continue to make positive profits, while respecting your capital ratios. You can do this and in doing so you can drag the entire private market down, which contributes to lower interest rates and eases the budget of mortgage holders, which can range between 100 and 200 Euros, taking into account each family’s installment of the amount due and the deadline,” defended the bloc leader.