State unlikely to pay off debts to suppliers by end-August
The state’s overdue arrears to its suppliers remain at particularly high levels even though they posted a slight decline over the first five months of the year.
The state’s obligations amounted to 2.974 billion euros in the January-May period, compared to 3.364 billion at the end of April – i.e. a 390-million-euro decline. Crucially, the arrears are supposed to drop to zero by the end of August, according to the deal between Athens and its creditors.
Attaining that target is seen as almost impossible, not only because the state does not have the necessary resources to do so, but also because it finds it hard to channel the cash into the market.
The data released by the State General Accounting Office for May put the expired debts of ministries, social security funds, hospitals, local authorities and other public entities to suppliers at 2.38 billion euros. Pending tax rebates were at 589 million euros.
