Strategic defaulters sitting on 10 bln euros

Twenty-one percent of all nonperforming loans in Greek banks' portfolios, worth more than 10 billion euros, concern borrowers who will not pay their dues despite being able to in anticipation of some form of favorable arrangement.

Bank officials estimate that the bulk of these strategic defaulters are household debtors, as out of a sum of 20 billion euros in residential mortgage NPLs, 30 percent (6 billion) concerns borrowers who have seen the crisis as an opportunity and are refusing to pay their dues - even though they can. The NPLs in corporate credit total 28.9 billion euros, of which an estimated 15 percent (4.3 billion) concerns strategic defaulters.

The predominance of household strategic defaulters is attributed to the systematic encouragement by the "I Won't Pay" movement in previous years and the political exploitation of the issue through promises extending...