The increase in new applications for the out-of-court debt settlement mechanism is spectacular, according to the Ministry of Finance.

“The out-of-court debt settlement mechanism, every month, works better and better, for the benefit of society,” the finance minister said on Thursday Christos Staikouras.

Mr. Staikouras spoke of “very positive developments in the course of implementation of the out-of-court debt settlement mechanism”, citing the data of the Special Secretariat for Private Debt Management.

According to the data of the Special Secretariat for Private Debt Management:

  1. The number of new applications entered into the platform, for March 2023 only, soared to 5,109, number more than double compared to the average of the previous 5 months.
  2. The number of applications definitively submitted to the platform in March 2023 stands at 1,708, an increase of 600 compared to the average of the previous months.
  3. The total debt settlements that have been carried out, until the end of March 2023, amount to 4,356, which correspond to 1.42 billion euros. The fact that just in the last 10 days there were 246 new successful debt settlements is also indicative. It is recalled that in the previous extrajudicial mechanism, under the SYRIZA Government, only 2,200 businesses and professionals successfully completed the debt settlement process.
  4. The debt settlements achieved include the cancellation of debts. Specifically, the average debt cancellation in the multilateral arrangements, until the end of March 2023, amounts to an average rate of 31.6% for financial institutions and 22.1% for the State.

It is also important and increasing acceptability of the arrangements by the financial institutions, in relation to the previous months. In particular, in March 2023, the approval of financial institutions varied to 80%, from 55% which was the average of the previous months.

“These results demonstrate the continuous work carried out by the Ministry of Finance and the Special Secretariat for Private Debt Management, in cooperation with all the agencies involved, regarding the management of the critical issue of private debt. We prove, once again, that we respond with actions and a plan” notes the Minister of Finance.