In 2023, 356 uncovered checks were issued in Cyprus for a total of €1,767,912.
Of these: 136 were issued by companies and 95 by individuals.
The Central Bank said that all checks were added to the preliminary list of the Central Information Repository (CIR), which is maintained by the financial institution.
Interestingly, the number of uncashed checks in Cyprus has decreased compared to previous years. The figures for previous years are as follows: 473 in 2022, 363 in 2021 and 454 in 2020. At the same time, the amounts of uncovered checks increased: €1,518,669 in 2022, €933,945 in 2021 and €741,700 in 2020.
Since 2003, when the Central Bank of Cyprus started keeping such statistics, until December 2023, a total of more than 100,000 bad checks were issued for a total amount of more than €10 million.
The Central Bank of Cyprus emphasized that it is closely monitoring the situation and urges individuals and businesses to exercise financial prudence in order not to contribute to this growing problem.