The state’s arrears to the private sector continued to increase in February 2019, compared to the previous month, according to figures released this week by the finance ministry, despite repeated pledges by Athens to European creditors to fully cover whatever debts.
Specifically, the general government’s arrears reached 1.669 billion euros, up from 1.578 billion euros in January 2019, i.e. an increase by 104.7 million euros.
Covering arrears to the private sector has been a “prior action” in all three bailout agreements with institutional creditors since 2010, and also comes up in warnings by international ratings agencies.
Covered arrears, in fact, over the Jan-Feb. 2019 period were only a marginal 10.4 million euros.
