Credit conditions improved in 2010

Credit conditions in the Greek market improved last year as a deep recession restricted the issuing of new checks and bills, official figures showed on Monday.

A report by Teiresias SA, the Greek market watchdog, said the value of bounced checks fell to 1.8 billion euros in 2010, down from 3.0 billion in 2009, while in volume they fell to 195,238 from 304,377 over the same period, respectively.

Bounced checks totaled 17,116 in volume and 158.6 million euros in value in December down 7.28 pct and 9.36 pct compared with November, while they were down 3.79 pct and 8.89 pct compared with December 2009.

Unpaid bills totaled 143,000 worth 229 million euros in 2010, down from 152,779 and 250 million euros in 2009, respectively. In December, unpaid bills totaled 13,581 in volume and 20.5 million euros in value, up 3.98 pct in volume and down 1.48 pct in value compared with November 2010, but down 4.85 pct and 9.88 pct compared with December 2009, respectively.