The Ministry of Labor has published its latest data regarding outstanding debts towards the insurance funds and found that they are owed about 10.5 billion euros. The funds that are owed the most are IKA-ETAM, self-employed fund OAEE and farmer pension fund OGA.

The bulk of the debt was generated prior to 2009 and is attributed to a small number of debtors; the Ministry claims that 833 debtors are responsible of about 27% of the debt. About 66% of debtors owe sums up to 20,000 euros each.

While the debts continue to increase though, there is little documented interest in coming to a settlement. So far there have been only 16,084 settlements for debts totaling 586,613,275 euros.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Labor is concerned about various loopholes that allow employers to avoid paying appropriate insurance contributions. Amongst the usual methods used are the creation of subsidiary companies and the appointment of elderly people without any assets at the helm of companies.

The Ministry of Labor has estimated that the state has lost about 50 million euros from contribution evasion, which has mostly been documented in the food, cleaning, and telecommunications sectors.