Bad debt increased again in July and now accounts for 7.3% of all bank loans granted to Portuguese families and companies.
According to the data released by the Bank of Portugal on September 10, from the nearly €234 billion in loans during the month of July, more than €17 billion were bad debt.
The figure represents a slight increase compared to the previous month: in June, 7.2% of all the money loaned in Portugal was considered uncollectable debt, the equivalent to €16.8 billion.
The data also revealed that companies still are the largest debtors: whilst banking institutions lent more than €103 billion to Portuguese companies, nearly €12 billion (11.4%) were bad debt. Families, on the other hand, owed a total of €130 billion, of which €5.2 billion (3.9%) were uncollectable debt.
