94 Trillion Tomans in Checks Returned in Iran Over Ten Months

A recent report from the Central Bank of Iran, published on Wednesday, March 26, indicates that during the ten-month period from January 2015 to October 2015, 7.8 million checks were returned in Iran. In terms of the value of the returned checks, the report reveals that during the ten months leading up to October this year, 94 trillion tomans (equivalent to 27 billion dollars) worth of checks were returned in Iran. The number of returned checks during this ten-month period is close to eight million, while last year's report from the Central Bank indicated an annual return of about seven million checks in Iran. Meanwhile, according to the news agency Khabar Online, previous statistics published for the first eight months of 2014 showed that during that period, the number of returned checks was three million and 910 thousand. Previously, Hamid Tehranfar, highlighting the high number of returned checks in Iran, stated that "the high statistics of returned checks not only lead to social problems but also increase the cost of operations in the banking system." Before him, Ahmad Midari, Deputy Minister of Labor and Social Welfare, mentioned that returned checks have caused checks to lose their value as a means of transaction in the Iranian economy. According to the recent report from the Central Bank, 2.9% of the checks issued, amounting to 94 trillion tomans, were returned. The status of exchanged checks in terms of number and value during this period was 267 million checks and 36 thousand and 560 thousand billion rials, with an average amount of 137 million rials. Of these, a total of 7.8 million checks worth 940 thousand billion rials with an average amount of 120 million rials were returned. Meanwhile, the ratio of returned checks to the total exchanged checks during the mentioned period was 2.9% in terms of number and 2.6% in terms of value. During this period, the share of returned checks from individuals to the total exchanged checks was 2.8% in terms of number and 2.2% in terms of value, while the share of returned checks from legal entities was 0.1% in terms of number and 0.4% in terms of value. In this context, the Central Bank reported that between 17,000 to 20,000 checks are returned daily, and by August, a total of one million and 884 thousand checks had been returned.