Greek state repaying arrears but creating new debts
The official figure for the arrears the Greek state has repaid this year up to the end of November is 5.5 billion euros, even though the State General Accounting Office has approved demands amounting to 6.4 billion euros, according to data presented on Tuesday by Alternate Finance Minister Christos Staikouras.
Delays persist in the public sector, with a direct impact on enterprises that are already facing cash flow problems.
At the same time new arrears are building up, amounting to 3.3 billion euros in the first 11 months of the year.
At the start of the year, expired debts owed by the state amounted to 8.24 billion euros, and after the payments made by end-November and the creation of new arrears, they came to 5.99 billion euros at the start of December.
“The current progress confirms that the estimate in the draft budget regarding the disbursement of 6.6 billion euros by the end of the year will be achieved,” stated Staikouras.
“But despite the satisfactory course of the process, there have been some problems that have hampered the rate of payment,” he added.
