Private Bad Debt Build-Up Casts Shadow on Greek Rebound

To Aristides Belles, it's clear what's blocking Greece's recovery: a quiet build-up of about 164 billion euros ($208 billion) in private bad debts. "The inability of Greek companies to repay their loans to banks and their dues to the state is clearly holding back Greece's return to growth," said the chief executive officer of Athens-based Nireus Aquaculture SA (NIR), a producer of sea bream, sea bass and processed fish. As Greece and its euro-area creditors meet tomorrow to review its progress ahead of another round of talks on repayment terms for its public debt, a less-visible crisis is looming on another front: bad debts of households and companies. Non-performing loans at Greece's banks have reached almost 80 billion euros, according to the country's Growth and Competitiveness Minister Nikolaos Dendias.



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