Non-performing loans (NPLs) held by Greek banks totaled 29.4 billion euros (20.3 percent of total loans extended) as of June 2021, according to figures supplied by the Bank of Greece (BoG) this week, with Finance Minister Christos Staikouras citing a reduction of 46 billion euros in NPLs’ value since the Mitsotakis government assumed power in July 2019.
Staikouras said NPLs held by Greek banks were calculated at 75.3 billion euros in June 2020, after skyrocketing to a high mark of 107.2 billion euros in March 2016.
“This significant reduction in NPLs is the result of an integrated and coherent strategy followed by the ministry of finance to manage them, mainly through the successful ‘Hercules’ program, which has been extended, as well as specific interventions to curb new “bad loans” due to the pandemic,” he said.
Staikouras emphasizes that the goal is a further slashing of NPLs to single-digit territory in 2022.
