In April 2024, 32 uncovered cheques totalling €137.6 thousand were issued in Cyprus, compared to 35 uncovered cheques totalling €72.5 thousand in the same month of 2023.
This was announced by the Central Bank of Cyprus on Tuesday 14th May.
The cheques were issued by 13 companies and eight individuals. The Central Bank said that all the cheques had been added to the preliminary list of the Central Information Repository (CIR), which is maintained by the financial institution.
In turn, between January and April 2024, a total of 108 uncovered cheques worth 253 thousand euros were registered in the CIR, involving 52 persons (35 companies and 17 individuals). This confirms a significant reduction compared to the same period last year, when 127 uncovered cheques were registered for a total amount of 349.2 thousand euros. At the same time, the current figure remains significantly lower than that recorded in 2014 (3.361 million euros), as well as in 2013 (5.673 million euros) and even more so in 2012 (7.759 million euros).
It should be recalled that since 2003, when the Central Bank of Cyprus started keeping such statistics, a total of more than 100 thousand bounced cheques were issued until November 2023, for a total of more than 10 million euros.
The Central Bank of Cyprus stresses that it is closely monitoring the situation and urges individuals and businesses to exercise financial prudence so as not to contribute to this growing problem.