Bouncing cheques exceed 1.1 bln
The suffocating conditions of the market in recession-riven Greece are illustrated by the huge sum of bouncing cheques and unpaid bills of exchange in the year’s first 10 months, amounting to over 1.3 billion euros, according to data released on Thursday by Teiresias, the register of insolvent borrowers.
In the January-to-October period, there were 112,232 bouncing cheques adding up to some 1.17 billion euros. However, in October alone there was a 34 percent decline in bad cheques compared with October 2011. Compared with September 2012, their number dropped by 1.87 percent and their value grew by 0.73 percent.
The value of the 105,767 unpaid bills of exchange came to about 165.4 million euros in the year to October, according to Teiresias. This constitutes a major increase of 22.6 percent in value and 26.5 percent in units from September, although compared with October 2011 there has been a 9.75 percent decline in value and a 5 percent drop in units.
This phenomenon not only deprives the market of much-needed liquidity for its operation, but also increases suspicion in everyday transactions in Greek commerce.
