ECONOMY

State debts to private suppliers up 16 pct since end-2011

The Greek public sector?s payment arrears to private suppliers have increased 16 percent since the end of last year as the government cuts spending to manage its cash reserves.

Arrears to the private sector, defined as payments not made within 90 days of being due, stood at 6.7 billion euros in July, up from 6.6 billion euros in June and 5.7 billion euros at the end of 2011, according to an e-mailed statement from the Athens-based Finance Ministry.

The most arrears came from social security funds, which had racked up 3 billion euros of overdue payments by the end of July, according to the statement.

Hospitals had overdue debts to private companies amounting to 1.6 billion euros.

[Bloomberg]

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