Rising Wave of Bounced Checks and Unpaid Promissory Notes

11:07 16/5/2025 - Πηγή: Dikaiologitika

Spike in Bounced Checks and Unpaid Notes Signals Deepening Liquidity Strain in Greek Business Sector.

Greece is witnessing a worrying spike in bounced checks and unpaid promissory notes, underscoring mounting financial pressure within the country’s business sector. According to official data released by Teiresias SA—the Greek authority responsible for credit and financial risk data—there has been a marked deterioration in payment reliability during the first four months of 2025.

Between January and April 2025, the number of bounced checks surged to 1,444, with a total value of €23.6 million. This represents a clear rise from the same period in 2024, when the corresponding figure stood at €20.6 million. A similar pattern is emerging with unpaid promissory notes, which reached 2,076 by the end of April 2025, totaling €4.93 million in value. These developments suggest deepening liquidity challenges across the Greek market, as businesses struggle to meet their financial obligations.

The monthly data for April alone is particularly striking. A total of 382 bounced checks were recorded, amounting to €4.76 million—up from 288 in March. Although the overall value of these checks remained relatively steady, the number jumped by more than 32%. Compared to April 2024, this marks an increase of 38.4% in the number of bounced checks and a 32.5% rise in value.

The situation is mirrored in the data on unpaid promissory notes. In April 2025, 484 promissory notes went unpaid, worth a total of €1.2 million. This represents an 11.5% increase in number and a 20% increase in value compared to the previous month. Interestingly, while the number of unpaid promissory notes declined by 14.2% compared to April 2024, their total value increased by over 20%, suggesting that the unpaid obligations now involve significantly larger sums on average.

A look at historical data from Teiresias highlights the growing scale of the issue. In the same four-month period of 2023, bounced checks amounted to €20.3 million, and €31.6 million in 2022—though considerably lower in 2021, at €8.4 million. Unpaid promissory notes followed a similar trajectory, totaling €4.89 million in early 2023 and €5.6 million in 2022. Back in 2020, at the onset of the pandemic, the figure peaked at €10.1 million.

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