The Bank of Greece has estimated that about 1 in 6 businesses that have taken out loans is a strategic ‘bad payer’. As such the Bank of Greece underlines the need to develop the legal framework for the management of non-performing loans.

According to a survey carried out by the Bank of Greece of the 57 billion euros worth of business loans in 2015, about 19 billion euros worth are non-performing loans. Since 2010 about 16% of such loans are non-performing loans.

The survey suggests that the rate has remained stable throughout the crisis due to the increase of strategic bad payers, as well as the increase of debtors who objectively cannot service their loans, due to the extended crisis and reduced liquidity. The highest rate of strategic bad payers is in the construction and real estate sector, however high rates are also encountered in industry, telecommunications, administrative and support services sectors.