New NPLs to reach 10 bln euros

The coronavirus pandemic will result in a new wave of nonperforming loans that could reach up to 10 billion euros, an online debate on bad loans heard on Wednesday. Most of them are expected to originate from the sum of recently rearranged loans that will turn nonperforming again.

The executive president of FPS, Theodoros Kalantonis, told the event, titled "Bad Loans: The New Reality," that the economic crisis from the pandemic will create a new generation of bad loans of between 7 and 10 billion euros. NPLs will expand by 10-15 percent and will be added to the existing stock of €70 billion. This is a prospect that will bring Greece closer to Italy's levels, where a similar increase will also take place according to a survey by Scope.

Kalantonis explained that three-quarters of the loans whose borrowers had fallen behind in payments and entered some form of...